Terrible Analogies

It took me nearly two hours to get home last night because some joker thought it’d be a great idea to shoot people while driving down the freeway, forcing the cops to close off the 805 while they conducted an investigation.

Full of anger and righteous ire, I sat down at my laptop and was ready to vent when I saw an e-mail somebody sent me that talked about an amazing looking bit of film.

The Fall:

In a hospital on the outskirts of 1920s Los Angeles, an injured stuntman begins to tell a fellow patient, a little girl with a broken arm, a fantastical story about 5 mythical heroes. Thanks to his fractured state of mind and her vivid imagination, the line between fiction and reality starts to blur as the tale advances.

Directed by Tarsem Singh (who worked on The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button and The Cell), and presented by David Fincher and Spike Jones, The Fall was released on blu-ray in 2008, one year before I began collecting movies in that medium.  To atone for the sin of missing this film I ordered a copy last night.

I just thought you’d like to know that something like this exists:

I’ve now completely forgotten why I was so upset…

The long wait is finally over. Ever since it was first announced in January I’ve been anxiously anticipating this day. And now, after oh-so many months of waiting, I’m proud to say that I have in my possession the extended edition of The Lord Of The Rings trilogy:

We’re talking 682 high definition minutes of hobbits, ring wraiths, wizards and elves.  Arriving just in time for the long fourth of July weekend, I do believe that I have everything I need to get my Middle Earth on.

Odd thought: I wonder, if Ceicl B. DeMille were alive today, would he release an extended version of The Ten Commandments?

This week just flew by!  I guess that’s what happens when you actually enjoy your job

To celebrate a successful week I’m going to settle down with a mug of black & tan ale, a shot of whiskey, and a viewing of all four Alien films on blu-ray.  I held back on purchasing this set on day one, and was finally rewarded with a huge discount from blu-ray.com.  This set arrived on my doorstep yesterday and I’m doing my best not to pop ‘em into the PS3 until the weekend.

Now, if only Real Genius, Repo Man and Remo Williams could get the blu-ray treatment…

“Game over, man! Game over…”

Here’s hoping that you all have a great weekend!

Well, it’s been announced that Star Wars episodes IV-VI will be released on blu-ray in September. Part of me is excited to finally get my grubby hands on a pristine print of these landmark films, but another part of me wishes George Lucas would just release the original cuts of his films and not these bastardized re-envisioned “special editions”.

The Star Wars trilogy has always been an elusive target for movie collectors.  It took many years for the trilogy to appear on DVD, but the eventual release of Star Wars on DVD in 2004 rang up $115 millions dollars (2.2 million copies) in sales on the first day and solidified the DVD as the dominant format.  With the upcoming blu-ray release of the original trilogy I guess it’s finally official that the blu-ray format has matured enough to justify the attention of George Lucas’ ego.

But enough of Star Wars.  Here’s hoping that The Adventures Of Remo Williams might some day finally be release on blu-ray in wide screen format.

Did you hear me, you bastards? Wide. Screen.

(Forgive my anger, this is a sore spot for me.  I love this movie and MGM released this on DVD only in a full screen format. Again, I’m geeking out here. Forgive me.)

With the wife and kid visiting her parents in Wisconsin this weekend I had time to catch up on my movies.  There was one movie in particular that I was anxious to watch for the second time.  And so, late Saturday evening I grabbed my blu-ray copy of The Proposition, a black-and-tan, and began watching.

I was blown away.

I mean, I’ve seen this moving before some months ago, but don’t recall it being quite such an epic film masquerading as a tiny independent release.

Taking place in Australia, director John Hillcoat manages to squeeze the very soul out of the barren Outback, flay it open and casually expose it for the viewer to squirm uncomfortably over.  Filled with amazing cinematography and an eye for detail, Hillcoat makes scenes taking place in run down shacks carry as much influence as majestic sweeps of the vast Australian dessert.

The inhabitants of The Proposition are broken individuals infused with all of the harshness that the Outback can possibly provide.  There is very little love here, with each denizen living a hellish existence, more intent on surviving in this hostile environment than caring for one another.  This is the dead end of the world, and those that scurry about in the dusty town have seemingly accepted their unfortunate lot in life.

The lone exceptions in this miserable play are a constable intent on “civilizing” the savage land and a man whom he persuades to hunt down a killer who’s hunkered down in the unforgiving dessert by holding his brother hostage.  Issues dealing with morality, love of family, betrayal and retribution are the forces that that drive this horrifically beautiful movie forward towards a conclusion that none of the characters can possibly avoid.

Nick Cave (of The Birthday Party and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds fame) provides a jarringly sophisticated soundtrack that spills life into the sunburnt dessert, constantly reminding us that where there is beauty there is also the tarnish of broken men and their unfortunate predestined fates.

If ever there was an anti-western movie, this is it.

This flick proves the notion that sometimes it takes multiple viewings to truly understand certain films…