Blu-ray Wish List

There are countless titles that I greatly enjoy that have yet to be given a Blu-ray release, but are still available in descent to excellent DVD format. Below, however, are some movies that have been left with some of the worst transfers imaginable: pan-n-scan or non anamorphic, or sourced from some lousy VHS copy. Superior art, superior cheese or somewhere in between, I love ‘em all respectively. So, Blu-ray Gods, hear my call!      

Hey, don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. Tanya Roberts, in all her glory, gets naked, bathes. And this is a PG movie!

Inspired by J.D.'s new blog wallpaper. This is my No. 1 favorite from Walter Hill.

Friedkin’s Wages of Fear remake is today virtually non-existent. Released in ’77 a month after Star Wars, it was all but instantly obliterated from the filmgoing conscious. Too bad, really, because its one hell of an action thriller with a superb performance from Scheider and a very cool synth score from Tangerine Dream.

One of the best Bill Murray movies no one’s ever heard of. I know; it looks like derivative ‘animal shenanigans’ comedy in the vein of Duston Checks In. Maybe it is. But it’s very good natured, Murray is lightheartedly funny and shares some genuinely affectionate chemistry with the elephant.

Swayze. Sword fights. ‘80s post-apocalyptic hair.

From the director of Tron, no less. And, no, your eyes do not do not deceive you: that is Mark Hamill and, yes, he is quite awesome in the part. This was certainly a low budget endeavor, but, believe it or not, there’s actually a decent story here with some interesting ideas. And it’s got gliders.

  

This was Stephen Sommers’ first big feature film and is surprisingly handsome in its direction and not plagued with bad CGI. If you trace his films backwards they actually increase in quality. It’s a great kid’s movie with a lot of old fashioned romance and swashbuckling.

A sublime outing from Peter Weir and Jeff Bridges that, over time, has been lost in the shuffle.

In my Top 100, along with two other’s from Weir, who happens to be one of my favorite directors. This one is a true masterpiece of refined, naturalistic atmosphere. It’s visually stunning. Gibson, Weaver and Hunt (who won an Oscar for the role) are at the top of their charismatic game. 

  

Consider me a hardcore enthusiast (borderline aficionado) of the interbellum pulps. Between The Rocketeer and The Phantom, The Shadow is a real gem.

Osama bin Laden’s Death Oddly Fitting for Summer Movie Kick-Off.

Since its Friday opening, Fast Five has already shot past the $83 million mark, making it the biggest opening ever for Universal.

And Bin Laden is dead.


G.I. Joe Caricature


 Am I the only one who sees these two events as being strangely simpatico? After all, what could be more modern day American than Fast Five? This sexist, testosterone fueled, macho action movie with lots of car chases and explosions… with Vin Diesel and The Rock and the Southern Californian epitomized Paul Walker. The ape-like juvenility of Fast Five is damn near unprecedented. It’s like Donkey Kong with supped-up sports cars and hip-hop music, with exotic locales and half naked women. It’s male dominated, and said males either race, fight or stand around drinking beer and talking shit. Never before has a movie been is so blatantly, so shamelessly, catered to its target audience. It’s perfect. And next Friday we have Thor, and thus begins the playtime season of America’s filmgoing pop-culture; school is on its way out and the local multiplexes are opening their gates for the rhino stampede of big studio blockbusters, and with the oncoming warm summer nights and weekend barbecues someone will inevitably ask someone else what they thought of Transformers 3.

And Bin Laden is dead.

As always, there is the sobering reality: terrorism isn’t going away any time soon, nor is unemployment. And I doubt the city of Tuscaloosa and her neighboring southern states communities are in any mood for celebration. Yet there is no denying the rosy veneer that is one part Hollywood escapism and the other part 9/11 vindication. It’s times like these where, on a purely emotional level, our (American psyche) reality briefly merges with fictionality into a kind of vanishing point. We’ll clap hands and boast prideful all summer long over the demise of real life al-Qaeda supervillain and then, with residual good cheer, go watch Captain America do battle with the Red Skull. Maybe it’s all superficial. Of course it is. But that’s okay. I say, let’s consciously (therefore responsibly) disregard the lines separating real world from movie world and, instead, amass all the finer things in life into one great big ice cream cake. 

Bin Laden is dead, and Lord Voldemort is soon to follow.  

 




Oh, and today is Dwayne Johnson’s birthday. Happy, 39^th, Rock!