CineSavant’s new reviews today are:
Glenn Erickson's
Review Page and Column
The Hospital 01/02/18
Twilight Time
Blu-ray
A story of murders in the ER becomes, courtesy of writer Paddy Chayefsky, either a preview of social breakdown or an impassioned examination of why we invest our lives and souls in imperfect institutions. George C. Scott is the doctor coming apart at the seams, who meets his match in a New Age hippie from a New Mexico commune. My instinct is that such a person would not look like Diana Rigg, but everybody needs a dream girl. With Barnard Hughes and Richard Dysart. On Blu-ray from Twilight Time.
01/02/18
Matinee 01/02/18
Shout Select
Blu-ray
A scary monster movie comes to Key West just as a nuclear crisis breaks out! Joe Dante’s incomparable paean to monster kid culture has finally arrived on Region A Blu-ray, with the great extras we expect from every Dante-involved home video offering. The picture only gets more charming and funny with time, with its great cast of teens to the perfect pitch of John Goodman and Cathy Moriarty’s bigger-than-life characters. On Blu-ray from Shout Select.
01/02/18
Cadillac Man 01/02/18
KL Studio Classics
Blu-ray
The irrepressible Robin Williams is Joey, a trash-talking Cadillac salesman with three women on the line, who becomes an involuntary hero when Tim Robbins smashes his motorcycle into the car showroom and threatens to kill everybody. Roger Donaldson’s crisis-farce black comedy is still funny — and my favorite Robin Williams feature. With Pamela Reed, Fran Drescher, Lori Petty and Lauren Tom as the abrasively funny Helen. On Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
01/02/18
Savant Column
Hello!
It was a good holiday . . . no calamities in the house, nobody sick, complete Peace in the Valley. I even liked most of the new movies we saw this holiday season, the ones bucking for awards. That’s very optimistic. Now if we can just get the rest of the world back into reasonable shape.
All I have today are some personal notes. For CineSavant 2018 arrives as a busy time reviewing and happily answering reader mail. I still feel awkward posting on Facebook, and marvel at the dexterity of some of my fellow writers on that forum. I prefer old-fashioned emails for conversing with new friends as it leaves a record of what’s been said so I won’t get lost. Being able to search through archived mail has been a blessing. When I think, ‘who wrote me about that movie way back when,’ most of the time I can find the email from as far back as 2000, and reconnect.
I’m getting lots of suggestions about what the CineSavant page needs, and I agree with all of them. I barely know how to make WordPress function, and haven’t yet mastered simple footnotes that work in the new text. I’ve got a functioning Review Archive happening now, although some of its interior links don’t work. I’m not ready to invest the effort in a newsletter of my own, although some readers liked that as a reminder, and keep asking me where it went. The best I’m doing at the moment are bi-weekly Facebook blurbs, which I hope aren’t too annoying. To cover social media decently is a full time job, yes?
But I do have a plan or two. The next step is to put together a secondary menu page that links to new versions of older Savant pages — lists of reviews by year, archives, the old non-review articles. Etc. I consider that a New Year’s resolution, because finding the time isn’t going to be easy.
That said, I’m having more fun than ever writing here, and plan to keep doing so for the foreseeable future. The circulation boost from Trailers from Hell has made things a lot easier, as have the experts that help check my facts (and help curb my opinions), and reader correspondents that help me get the word out — and keep me current on what’s happening out there on the disc-collecting grapevine.
Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson
Savant’s new reviews today are:
The Apartment 12/30/17
Arrow Academy
Blu-ray
Savant’s vote for the best romantic comedy ever goes to a sordid fable about problems in the big city Rat Race: keeping both a job and one’s self-respect. Picking up where 1930s pre-Code movies left off, Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond’s ‘how to succeed’ thesis divides people into two groups, Takers and those that Get Took. And yet the message it delivers is life & love- affirming. Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine and Fred MacMurray top an impeccable cast. With an excellent selection of extras, old and new — I learned new things about the picture. On Blu-ray from Arrow Academy.
12/30/17
Forever Amber 12/30/17
Twilight Time
Blu-ray
Meet the lusty Amber St. Clare, an ambitious 17th century social climber determined to sleep her way to respectability. Gorgeous Linda Darnell gets her biggest role in a lavishly appointed period epic; Otto Preminger hated the assignment but his direction and Darryl Zanuck’s production are excellent. George Sanders, Cornel Wilde, Jessica Tandy, Richard Haydn . . . and it has an all-time great David Raksin movie score, Isolated on its own track. On Blu-rayfrom Twilight Time.
12/30/17
The Whales of August 12/30/17
KL Studio Classics
Blu-ray
This look at the ‘adjustments’ of old age and the pain of nostalgia is a prime opportunity to admire a pair of legendary actresses. David Barry’s play observes the intersection of several interesting personalities on one glorious late-summer day. Bette Davis and Lillian Gish earn our full attention, backed by memorable turns from Ann Sothern and Vincent Price, directed by Lindsay Anderson. Packed with interview extras, on Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
12/30/17
CineSavant Column
Hello!
I was wrapping up my review for Arrow’s revisit of Billy Wilder’s The Apartment when emails began pouring in that Amazon wasn’t accepting new orders, and had even cancelled some pre-orders. The thought is that the limited edition’s 3,000 unit run had sold out, with third party sellers already cashing in. Well, if that’s true all-region capable customers still have the UK edition. I also wouldn’t rule out the possibility of a glitch in the system — when Arrow comes back after New Year’s it might have some good news on the subject. Note for those buying the UK copy — the extras appear to be a little different.
On the subject of the recently reviewed Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Gary Teetzel forwarded a link to a Movie Censorship page explaining the digital tweaks James Cameron performed on his show en route to the latest remastering job. They all got by me, even the ‘fixing’ of Schwarzenegger’s face in some effects/stunt shots.
I’ve received VCI’s replacement disc for the great caveman vs. dinosaurs romp One Million B.C.; early review discs and some sales copies had a slight visual flaw — odd artefacting in minute detail texture — that I didn’t even detect on a first viewing. The replacement discs are perfect.
And the masters of horror at Severin say that they’re sending an Amicus Horror Boxed Set. I’m looking forward to a review, perhaps from Charlie Largent.
Thanks for reading. Let’s all hope for the best for 2018 . . . 2017 appears to have been the worst year on record for just about everything. Good luck and good wishes for all — Glenn Erickson
Savant’s new reviews today are:
The Garden of Allah 12/23/17
KL Studio Classics
Blu-ray
One of the first full Technicolor features is a romantic fantasy about an innocent beauty’s encounter with an equally innocent fugitive monk … all surrounded by sensuous, confected Hollywood exotica, courtesy of producer David O. Selznick. Marlene Dietrich and Charles Boyer steam up the screen, but dancer Tilly Losch steals the show with just one scene. With Basil Rathbone, Joseph Schildkraut & John Carradine. On Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
12/23/17
Terminator 2: Judgment Day 12/23/17
Lionsgate
4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, Digital HD
Still looking sharp 26 years since its premiere, James Cameron’s picture completely masters the mass audience thriller while pushing the effects envelope far beyond the industry’s horizon. Technically slick, conceptually brutal, Cameron’s style is what still prevails in action-based Sci-Fi. All this, and Ah-nold too. With Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong, Robert Patrick, Joe Morton and Jenette Goldstein. On Ultra HD and Blu-ray from Lionsgate.
12/23/17
Ruby 12/23/17
VCI
Blu-ray
A major horror hit from ’77, Ruby surprised all that made it including its director Curtis Harrington, who struggled with an interfering producer for control of the set. Despite everything, star Piper Laurie still shines, and there’s some good atmosphere — for an Exorcist rip-off, it’s not bad. With Stuart Whitman, Roger Davis and Janit Baldwin. On Blu-ray from VCI.
12/23/17
Savant Column
Hello!
I got this just-before-Christmas set of reviews out somehow, but the next will likely be a bit late — too much holiday stuff going on around the Erickson Burrow (Obscure ‘Far Side’ reference). CineSavant normally runs ‘lite’ through the holidays, which is fine because most of us have plenty of distractions taking up our time. But I’m really enjoying the notes from readers, not only the usual welcome corrections and comments, but nice unsolicited hellos too, and holiday greetings. I get to correspond frequently with some nice people here, that I wish were my neighbors.
Disc producers are sending me more Ultra-HD shows to review. I’ve been looking at more Ultra-HD and marveling at the virtuosity of most of the transfersn. I certainly appreciate the Ultra-HD quality, while wondering how quickly I will get used to that standard. Remember way back when, when laserdisc quality seemed so good? Blu-rays didn’t supplant DVD, they just made mediocre DVDs less acceptable. I don’t know if UHD is going to become an ‘essential’ item for me, except for a very few special shows. It’s unlikely that my crazy favorites will appear in the format, but stranger things have happened.
My thoughts always seem directed at the desirable titles announced for the near future. What am I really looking forward to, as I stare at my mailbox, hoping for a USPS, FedEx or UPS truck to amble to my door? Just about everybody has great stuff coming. I’ll go alphabetically . . .
Cat O’ Nine Tails, The Witches (Le streghe) Jan.9, Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Inferno February 6.
ClassicFlix:
Raw Deal (1948) Jan. 16.
Criterion:
Young Mr Lincoln Jan.9, Eclipse 45: Claude Autant-Lara Jan. 23;
Kameradschaft Jan. 30, Night of the Living Dead, The Silence of the Lambs Feb. 13.
Indicator:
Charley Varrick, Blue Collar Jan 22, Hammer Volume 2 – Criminal Intent Feb. 19.
Kino:
Cadillac Man, The Executioner’s Song Jan. 2, Not as a Stranger Jan. 9, The
Thomas Crown Affair Feb. 13.
Severin:
Threads Jan. 30.
Shout Factory:
Matinee Jan. 16, The Projected Man Jan 30, The Night Walker February 20.
Twilight Time:
The Hospital, Forever Amber, The L-Shaped Room, Alice December 19, Dragonwyck, My Cousin Rachel Jan. 23.
Warner Archive Collection:
The Hanging Tree Jan. 23.
Warner Home Video:
Blade Runner 2049 Jan 16.
Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson
Savant’s new reviews today are:
Dunkirk 12/19/17
Warner Home Video
UHD, Blu-ray + Digital
A huge summer hit and a righteous blow struck for positive, non-comic book entertainment, Christopher Nolan’s account of a WW2 crisis is a major war picture with amazing, full-scale visuals that we are told were only slightly augmented with CGI effects. Hallelujah. With Mark Rylance, Kenneth Branagh, Tom Hardy, this is a must-see war picture that entertains everybody. The new UHD format delivers the full theatrical experience, for our fancy home-theater friends. A Dual-Format edition on Blu-ray + Digital and Ultra HD from Warner Home Video.
12/19/17
Pulp 12/19/17
Arrow Video
DVD
A spoof? A black comedy? Michael Hodges and Michael Caine’s hardboiled ‘foreign intrigue’ comedy lays on the movie references and clever dialogue, going the distance in the arcane, hipster-noir subgenre. Caine is always good in that mode, and Mickey Rooney gets a supporting role that can only be called bizarre. Featuring a gallery of noir-lite suspects: Lionel Stander, Lizabeth Scott, Al Lettieri. And Hey, Richard A. Smith, it’s filmed in Malta (personal reference). Available on Blu-ray; reviewed on DVD from Arrow Video.
2/19/17
Savant Column
Hello!
We’re sort-of getting into Christmas, and I’m mostly starting my overeating of Xmas sweets much too soon. But plenty is happening on the video side of things as well. The Oscar-hopeful pictures are shaping up as a nice batch. Besides my rave reviews for The Shape of Water and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, I liked I, Tonya quite a bit, especially Allison Janney as the worst woman ever born — the movie could have been titled, ‘I, Deplorable.’ Mudbound and Get Out are award caliber pictures too. Gary Oldman’s Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour is a terrific characterization but the film is just terrible. Oldman and Brian Cox’s Churchill movies this year both use the exact same awful construction, of having a demoralized Winston bounce back to write a great speech after being inspired by ‘the common folk’ — his secretary in one film, and a phony cross-section of Londoners in the Underground in the other. I still haven’t seen Lady Bird and a couple other highly recommended pictures.
Fun links! TCM’s Obituary Montage for 2017 is one of their best — less art, more beloved performers that passed on, including a lot of European greats. With Robert Osborne getting the final nod, there’s now elbowing stars to see who gets top billing, leaving everybody else, in Billy Wilder’s true observation, relegated to ‘additional dying by’ status.
Ace correspondent Edward Sullivan favors us with some fun Vimeo gag videos, called the Fabrice Mathieu Mashups. Ed recommends that we start with Darth by Darthwest or Master of Suspense to get the flavor of the rest…
Joe Dante steers us to a great YouTube piece from RocketJump called How Star Wars Was Saved in the Edit. The analyst has great ideas about how to organize scene content in the right order to introduce elements in the right order, maintain audience interest, etc. Very cool — and more fun than getting one’s blood up to be enthusiastic about the new movie. Thanks, Steve Wilkinson, for straightening out the link for me!
Thanks for reading — Glenn Erickson
