DVD and Blu Ray Update (15/07/2012 - 28/07/2012)

Hi again imaginary readers to another DVD update sponsored by nobody. It's been an okay sort of fortnight.

Fist Of Fury - This is the 23rd Century release (I already own the Hong Kong Legends version) and I have to say the print on this dubbed version is actually quite impressive for a budget title. I did a little bit of research and their is quite a lot of people who call them a bootleg company but I've seen 23rd Century in legit shops so who knows?

The Alamo

Chisum

CB4

The Night They Saved Christmas

Face The Music  - as much as Molly Ringwald is mean't to be a mega-b#tch in real life I still like her as a screen presence.

Postcards From The Edge

Change Of Habit

Falling Down

Dinner For Schmucks

Death Note

She's All That - fluffy teen rom-com stuff with the main reason for buying this is because it's in the red and white Film Four case.

The Omega Man - this was the second adaptation of Richard Matheson's I Am Legend, while I prefer The Last Man On Earth starring Vincent Price I do prefer this to the Will Smith version. Blu Ray buy.

The Brave One - Another Blu Ray buy (the 25th so far), see's Jodie Foster do vigilante justice, while I didn't dislike it I wanted it to be better, I just dunno I think it was missing some sort of spark.

The Informers
Tora! Tora! Tora!
Colors
First Knight
Dudley Do Right

The Green Berets

National Treasure 2 - Book Of Secrets - this sequel is actually better then the first movie.


The Street Fighter Collection - Birthday gift along with the one below from my Brother, but hey wait a minute... my Birthday is not actually until October. I guess my Brother saw these and couldn't wait to give them to me. I already owned these three films in the 10 Faces Of Sonny Chiba set but those where all dubbed, so it's sort of like seeing these in their original Japanese language for the first time or at that very least in a new light.


Sonny Chiba Collection Volume 1


Sydney White - I always thought Amanda Bynes had quite a cool personality in the stuff I'd seen her in (like The Amanda Show), it seems like she had some sort of trouble with the law earlier this year so I hope it's not the beginning of going in the wrong direction, I haven't watched this yet.


El Dorado
Fort Apache
Wonderland


Four Enchanting Stories By Roald Dahl - I've been collecting DVDs based on the work of Roald Dahl and this was the last title I needed based off of any of his books (I need Chitty Chitty Bang Bang but that was written for the screen).


The Big Sleep (1978)
Exit To Eden
Rio Lobo
Rooster Cogburn
Sahara (2005)
Patton
The Master Of Disguise


Monster - I have never seen this movie before but it cost me the grand total of 20p. I think one of the reasons I haven't seen it is being burnt out by Oscar favoured movies because 9 times out of 10 I feel like I'm disappointed, I am going to give this a try soon enough though because I am intrigued by real life criminals.


Suspense Classics (50 Movies) - I do enjoy the Mill Creek 50 movie packs (or the 12, 20 or 25 for that matter), while the quality is not the best the movies are watchable and you often get a lot for your money. This was actually in a shop in my (English) home town, I am probably familiar with less titles in this then I usually am but there are some films I am intrigued to see such as The Woman Hunter with Barbara Eden, Seducers with Sondra Locke, Please Murder Me with Angela Lansbury and The Night They Took Miss Beautiful featuring Phil Silvers.


Mean Girls 2 - I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED Mean Girls, so I was curious to see this sequel even if it was a straight to DVD release and only featured one actor coming back (Tim Meadows), I have to say despite many negative comments I've heard about this it actually has some likeable moments. I'm not gonna recommend it 100% though but I was happy to leave it on.


Bullets Over Broadway
Between Heaven and Hell / Guadalcanal Diary / To The Shores Of Tripoli
A.I. - Artificial Intelligence
The Long Kiss Goodnight
Around The World In 80 Days (2004)
The Avengers (1998)
Days Of Thunder
Shattering The Silence


That's it for this fortnight, see you in two weeks...

Happy Birthday Kristen Bell

Turning 32 today is the lovely, wonderful, perfect Kristen Bell. Happy Birthday KB have a good one...

DVD and Blu Ray Update (01/07/12 - 14/07/12)

Welcome to the DVD Update, which is pretty much the ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY of me doing the first ever DVD Update, a lot as changed in the last year in my real life, a lot for the better.

Jumpin' Jack Flash - for as many DVDs I own that feature Whoopi Goldberg, this is her first lead comedy that she stars in that I own.

South Park Season 5 - a season that includes the very dark Scott Tenorman Must Die, aswell as Cripple Fight is pretty awesome in my book.

Coupling Series 1 - I'm surprised I never had any of this on DVD until now cause I found it was enjoyable when it was one and the series is often very cheap to get the different series on DVD.

Masquerade

Basket Case

Fury - Fury as the honour of been the first film made in 2012 that I own in 2012.

Three Amigos

Unknown

The Addiction

Return From The River Kwai

Gattaca

The American President

Rat Race / Thunderpants / Black Knight - I have only seen Rat Race of the three films, it's like It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and The Cannonball Run films only it doesn't have the same affection I've had for them.

Men Of War

The Defender

Kaiji - The Ultimate Gambler

Ong Bak 3

Gorillas In The Mist

The Magnificent Seven Ride

BASEketball - funny movie, I prefer this to Orgazmo (the other live action film with Trey Parker and Matt Stone I've seen). Any film where Ernest Borgnine sings I'm Too Sexy is alright in my book.

True Crime

The James Dean Story / The Bells Of Cockaigne - as much as I like James Dean's (short) career, my main reason for getting this was the fact that The James Dean Story is an early work directed by one of the greatest directors of all time Robert Altman.

The Mask Of Zorro / The Legend Of Zorro

It's Complicated - Nancy Meyers continues to make films I enjoy but are never amazing. I did like the central relationship in the movie

Multiplicity - Michael Keaton these days I don't think gets the due his deserved as a performer, this is not a great movie but it works thanks to his charms.

Wild In The Country

The Glass Bottom Boat

Salem's Lot (2004)

The Song Of Bernadette - what is most intriguing to me is Vincent Price in a co-starring role, I have only ever seen him in horror or a film with a fantasy element.

Boomerang

The Kids Are All Alright

Cheech and Chong's The Coriscan Brothers

Starter For 10

Changing Lanes

Up In Smoke

Nixon

Jude

World's Greatest Dad - Bobcat Goldthwait, is a director I wanna hunt out all his films that he has directed.

The Russia House

Soul Men - two of it's actors (Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes) passed away before it's release.

Fred Astaire Collection - four films, the one with the most interest to me was Finian's Rainbow, which is directed by Francis Ford Coppola (pre-Godfather).

30 Rock Season 4 - even as far into this series 30 Rock is as good as it as ever been.

May - cool little horror film with standout role for Angela Bettis in the title role, brilliantly walking the line between cute and creepy.

Bees In Paradise

Band Waggon

Shaft (2000) - King of Cool Samuel L. Jackson is the title shaft not as cool as Richard Roundtree who played Shaft in the original movies (Jackson is not technically playing the same character here he is playing the nephew of the original John Shaft, Roundtree even appears).

Retreat - this is a Blu Ray buy of a film I am not that familiar with, I like the actors who are in it enough particularly Cillian Murphy.

American History X - another Blu Ray buy this fortnight. I like this film but I find it very imperfect.

The Taking Of Pelham 123 (2009) - I really liked the original but I'm not holding up hope for this remake to be the same quality. Another Blu Ray buy.

The Experiment - yes this update is ending with a run of Blu Rays, I'm not massively familiar with this movie but I'm aware of the event that inspired this movie.

That's it for this update see you in about two weeks dudes and dudettes!

Bad Movie Breakdown - What's Happening?

I realize I haven't done a Bad Movie Breakdown for a few months, I have been distracted by RL, but I am planning on bringing it back very soon with the 4th installment. Here is some films I personally would hope to cover by the years end and that I currently own - let's say 50% of them and I'll be happy,  ---

The Adventures Of Pluto Nash (a film I tore into years ago and would love to revisit it), Alien From L.A., The Atomic Brain, The Black Six, Blackwoods, Bloodlust, Breeders, Carry On Emmanuelle, Children Of The Living Dead, The Chosen One - The Legend Of The Raven, Code Of The Cactus, Cosmos - War Of The Planets, The Creature From The Haunted Sea, Deadly Weapons, Eegah, The Fat Spy, Flesh Gordon 2, Forest Warrior, Galaxina, The Garbage Pail Kids Movie, The Giant Gila Monster, Going Overboard, Hercules Against The Moon, Horrors Of Spider Island, House Of The Dead, I Am Omega, The Incredible Petrified World, Italian Stallion, Jail Bait, Kong Island, Laser Mission, Mars Needs Women, Mesa Of Lost Women, Monster From A Prehistoric Planet, The Mystical Adventures Of Billy Owens, The Nasty Rabbit, National Lampoon's Gold Diggers, National Lampoon's Last Resort,  Pacific Inferno, Phantom From Space, The Phantom Planet, Santa Claus Conquers The Martians, Sci-Fighter, The Secret Agents Club, She Gods Of Shark Reef, The Shepherd, Ski Troop Attack, Slapstick Of Another Kind, The Snow Creature, Swamp Woman, Teen Wolf Too, The Violent Years, Voyage To The Planet Of Prehistoric Women, Wackiest Wagon Train In The West, Wild Guitar, The Wild Women Of Wongo

This just goes to show how many films I can potentially do.

This Year

I can't believe I turn 30 this year - in three months time I leave my 20s - I think turning 30 is a testament to how much time just flies by.

Ernest Borgnine R.I.P.

I am truly saddened to hear about the death of the legendary Ernest Borgnine, who appeared in movies such as Marty, The Poseidon Adventure, The Wild Bunch, From Here To Eternity and The Dirty Dozen.

In 2009 (18th of April to be precise) I had the pleasure of meeting Ernest Borgnine. He was very friendly, and I even remember him earlier in the day before I met him walking down the line to get into the event saying hello and morning to everybody. When I met him I was in awe because I had never met anybody whose career went that far back and still stayed consistently great, but he very friendly and put me at ease.

Here is a picture of me and him below...

Tribute - Andy Griffith and Eric Sykes

I just wanted to pay tribute to two actors who died this past week...

Andy Griffith and Eric Sykes,

you'll both be missed...

My Favourite Television Shows Of All Time

TV is awesome, correction - TV CAN BE AWESOME - and often do things films can't, because they can spend hours upon hours with characters (where a film can only spends a few hours). A note - animated TV series' will get it's own section at a later time.

I'll start with what is my absolute favourite of all time and that's MASH, which was originally a book by Richard Hooker and then a rather excellent 1970 film directed by Robert Altman. The mostly recast series (besides Gary Burghoff as Radar and G. Wood, who appeared in a few episodes early in the series run as General Hammond) began in 1972 and ran over 200 episodes. MASH, if moments are (unsuprisngly) outdated the majority of it still stand the test of time, a show in the 70s mixing comedy and drama so well in a half hour format is still actually not that common on a regular basis.

Next up is Buffy The Vampire Slayer, maybe what I consider my second favourite series of all time, and also one that orginiated from a movie (the 1992 movie is pretty much unrelated, and any mentions in the pilot or earl Buffy episodes are closer to the movie script then the finished movie itself). I will also include it's spin-off Angel.

Freaks and Geeks, just never found a big audience when it was on.

Arrested Development, is another show that never found an audience, but the audience that found it tended to absolutely love it.

Everybody of a certain age seems to love Spaced now, but that is not without reason - it is a brilliantly written, directed and performed series. I also think it's a good example for the makers and writers of Family Guy that movie and TV references can be organic to the episode.

Only Fools and Horses

Homicide - Life On The Street, is to me the finest cop show ever put on television.

Veronica Mars, blinded by the love of KB aside was such a wonderful show in it's own right.

St. Elsewhere and ER, whilst two very different shows set in hospitals.

Q.I., is probably king of the mountain for me as far as comedy quiz shows go, the amount of new stuff I learn or find out I was completely wrong about. Q.I. is the sort of a show what makes you extremely happy when you know a right answer (probably totals to less then 10 throughout the series run so far that I've known)

Treating each incarnation as different shows I'm picking Blackadder Goes Forth above and beyond any other Blackadder incarnation.

On the sketch show front, Monty Python's Flying Circus continues to stand the test of time, even when sketch shows made as late as the 90s shockingly didn't.

Cheers, it's spin-off Frasier

Band Of Brothers

mentioning Cheers and Frasier earlier put me in the mind of Taxi

the reimagining of Battlestar Galactica, took a fun if corny original series and built on it's premise

If there was any justice in the world they would exist more Brass Eye episodes.

Going back to the 50s - The Phil Silvers Show (sometimes known as Sgt. Bilko) and the 60s - The Addams Family -

I'm Alan Partridge

The original incarnation of The Twilight Zone just can't be beat as far as genre anthology series go.

I realise this list is very dominated by US programmes, which considering I'm a British lad should have more British stuff but it was just the stuff I was brought up on and found myself most drawn to.

The Worst Films I've Seen At The Cinema

As it says in the title post, these are the films I feel like I had the misfortune of seeing on the big screen and as I have never walked out of a film, get to see all of it in it's glory.

Godzilla (1998)

As a 13 year in the summer of 1996, I went to see Independence Day, not once, not twice but three times at the cinema, the film really excited 13 year old me, so I was looking forward to seeing what they would come up with next.

Psycho (1998)

Planet Of The Apes (2001)

This is the film that probably killed my interest in the NEW TIM BURTON FILM, I haven't been excited by what he's coming up with ever since. Remaking a bonafide classic as proved before and since to be a really hard thing to do. I'm glad it was a misstep for Wahlberg as an actor though cause he's proved himself since.

40 Days and 40 Days (2002)

It's hard to feel sorry for a guy who just gets too much sex. This film was just never funny to me and more importantly I just couldn't get behind any of the characters - just about every character here is unrealistic from Josh Hartnett's main character to his co-workers (two of the female co-workers are clearly clearly written by a man).

Just Married (2003)

Sorry Brittany Murphy, I always had a lot of affection for you but this film was just incredibly woeful. Her and Ashton Kutcher (who I believe where dating IRL at the time) have zero chemistry and it seems to nick jokes wholesale from other movies (Meet The Parents, European Vacation etc), I was genuinely close to walking out of this movie but I paid my money so suffered through it.

Last few years I've only been to cinema I actually want to see.