Category: film rants

film geek wish list, 2005

I’ve been thinking about things I would like to happen in 2005 related to movies, DVDs, etc. I’ve created a little wish list. These are things over which I have very little control, but they would make me very happy. So if any of the deities whose responsibilities include the DVD market or film programming are listening, here’s a list of things I’d love to see this year:

  • Holiday (1938) and A Foreign Affair (1948) released on DVD—Of all the films pending on my twenty gaps list, these are the ones I want the most. I would rush out to buy the DVDs in a heartbeat. I don’t care about special features. Just release them, please.
  • A Terry Gilliam movie released in U.S. theaters (specifically Austin)—And I don’t mean a documentary about one of his films failing, either. The Brothers Grimm is in post-production with a November 2005 release date, and Mr. Gilliam is currently filming Tideland, so the odds are good … but I am still wary.

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significant, but not available

In case you hadn’t heard, the U.S. National Film Preservation Board selected 25 films to add to the National Film Registry. You can read the full press release here, which includes a list of all the films chosen for 2004. This means there are now 400 films in the National Film Registry.
These films are chosen not because they’re the best films ever, but because they are “culturally, historically, or aesthetically” significant to Americans. That would explain why the list includes a variety of films that might not be top quality but include cinematic and cultural icons, such as Jailhouse Rock, Ben-Hur, Swing Time, Enter the Dragon, The Nutty Professor, Eraserhead, and Popeye the Sailor Meets Sinbad the Sailor.
It was interesting to see Garlic is as Good as Ten Mothers on the list since Alamo is showing the Les Blank documentary next week.
I told my boyfriend about the list and he asked me, “What happens to these films?”
The Library of Congress restores prints of these films to archival quality, so that they can be preserved in the best state possible. That’s very nice, isn’t it?
But he persisted. “Does this mean we get to see them?”

Continue reading significant, but not available

movies this week: ring in the new? what new?

Ring in the new, indeed. There are hardly any new movies opening this week, at least not in Austin. Most everything opened Christmas Day or right beforehand.
So this is a good week to catch up on all the movies you missed while you were out shopping for gifts, or wrapping gifts, or stressing about relatives, or travelling, or eating, or eating more, or doing other typical holiday things. Check out the Movies This Week from last week or the week before if you need to refresh your memory about what’s out there. Alamo Downtown is showing all kinds of crazy and fun stuff, too.

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what I watched on my vacation

I did not get to see one single movie while I was visiting my family. Not one. I wrapped all my presents before I got to town, so I didn’t even get to enjoy a little private movie-watching while wrapping gifts.
Well, that’s not entirely true. I didn’t see any single movie from beginning to end. However, thanks to the joys of family channel-surfing on cable TV, I was subjected to many bits of movies. We never made it through more than 10 minutes of any one movie, but I sampled some films I might not ordinarily watch. I don’t have any desire to see more of them, either.
Here’s what I watched (barely) on my Christmas vacation:

Continue reading what I watched on my vacation

pretty paper, charming movies

One of the tasks my mom usually gives me on Christmas Eve is wrapping any presents she hasn’t had time to finish. I also have had to wrap my own presents, because I usually fly there for Christmas and you can’t pack wrapped presents in your checked luggage.
(The airline personnel will unwrap them if you do. They have made this very clear. This is a practice that has been going on for years and years. I can’t blame anyone, and it does make sense, but it adds yet another level of stress at Christmas. I have to use my mom’s wrapping materials, I have to pack stuff that won’t break and can fit in a suitcase … but not this year, because I am driving! Hooray! This has been an official rant.)
I like to take all the wrapping materials and the gifts into a quiet room with a TV set. I can shut the door and forbid anyone from coming in, because I might well be wrapping their presents. (This doesn’t eliminate all the traffic, but it does cut it down significantly.)

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movies this week: ’twas the week before Christmas

‘Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the house, I went freaking bananas and tried not to stress out, while my boyfriend (who doesn’t celebrate Christmas) has been incredibly tolerant about it all. He’s just happy I’m not making Those Damned Calendars for gifts this year.
I am giving a couple of people DVDs for Christmas. I bought my baby brother The Forbidden Zone, because I know he doesn’t own that movie, since he doesn’t know much about it. Anything he wants on DVD, he usually runs out and gets for himself, so I either have to find an obscure movie or get him a nice film book. (Last year, I gave him an autographed copy of Profoundly Disturbing by Joe Bob Briggs.) I first saw this movie when I was his age and at LSU, so it seems like a very fitting present.
And I bought my married brother the first season of The Dukes of Hazzard on DVD, because he adored that TV show when he was little, and Amazon had the boxed set on sale so it was cheap enough to be a good semi-joke gift. As long as no one makes me watch it, I don’t care.
I still have to finish wrapping presents, buying ribbon and gift tags, picking up the odds and ends I’m using for my parents’ gift (a lot of coffee-related stuff), sending any last-minute Christmas cards, cleaning out my car, and packing for the trip next week.
I’m going to a Christmas party tomorrow afternoon, and on Sunday I hope to see Marcia Ball and Sarah Elizabeth Campbell at Armadillo Christmas Bazaar.
And in the middle of all this, there are movies opening this week. Who’s thinking about movies right now? Well, I kind of am (I got all excited to learn this week that Twentieth Century will finally be released on DVD in February) but I don’t know if I’ll have time to go to a theater. Which is too bad, because I’d like to see Sideways and Kinsey and a couple of other movies before they vanish from theaters. Although I don’t think Sideways will vanish anytime soon, because it’s starting to pick up national awards.
Anyway, if you’re fortunate enough to be completely unruffled by the holiday season, there are a few movies opening this week, and some nice special events too, seasonal and otherwise.

Continue reading movies this week: ’twas the week before Christmas

movies this week: my sister got lucky

How can you tell my sister has a boyfriend? Because she didn’t realize that Ocean’s Twelve is opening this weekend.
If you know about my sister’s fervent and devouring love for everything even remotely related to George Clooney, you realize something major had to distract her. Like a real-life person to dote upon. I mean, she even saw the remake of Solaris, just to get a good look at Mr. Clooney’s bare ass. (She says no one’s ass was worth sitting through that movie.)
Her new boyfriend is a film geek, which amuses me to no end. My sister, whose favorite movies include Ever After and 10 Things I Hate About You (nothing wrong with those, either), has been calling me up to tell me they just saw Being There, or Blood Simple, or Adaptation. She liked Adaptation but I believe she fell asleep during Being There, much to her new guy’s disappointment.

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twenty gaps on DVD: the ongoing updated list

Last updated January 31, 2008 with info on Midnight, Easy Living, and The Major and the Minor.
Awhile back, I wrote an essay about 20 gaps in the DVD market. It’s in three parts starting here if you want to reread it. I was frustrated that so many of the movies I wanted to see were not available to me on DVD.
I thought it would be useful to track all the movies listed in that essay to see which ones have been released on DVD since that time. Some of the news is encouraging—I frankly did not think I would be seeing Harold Lloyd movies on DVD anytime soon—and some gaps are still frustrating, like the status of The African Queen.
This information applies to US (Region 1) DVDs only. Some of these movies are available on DVD in other countries/regions, but you would need a multi-region DVD player (with PAL capability for UK movies) to watch them.
I will update this page regularly as I receive new information about upcoming releases. If you learn anything about these movies being released on DVD, please email me with the information, citing your source, and I will post that information here.
Remember, the best way to help get more of these movies released on DVD is to buy or even rent similar movies that are already available on DVD. If lots of people are buying the Marlene Dietrich Glamour Collection, maybe Universal will release A Foreign Affair, and so forth. The Amazon links below are affiliate links for this site, so buying the DVDs by clicking these links helps support my Web site.

Continue reading twenty gaps on DVD: the ongoing updated list

oh, I do believe

I don’t need to write a letter to Santa Claus this year. I received my Christmas gift already. I could not ask for more.
On March 1, 2005, Warner is releasing the following movies on DVD in the US (aka Region 1): Bringing Up Baby (a two-disc special edition), Dinner at Eight, Libeled Lady, Stage Door, To Be or Not to Be (Lubitsch), and a new two-disc special edition of The Philadelphia Story.
(This info is courtesy of DVDAnswers, which also has images of the DVD cover artwork. Thanks, guys.)
I am all Natalie Wood and Tiny Tim right now. I am suddenly filled with the holiday spirit. I may put up the Barbie tree this weekend.
Next year we’re getting all these lovely movies on DVD plus Harold Lloyd movies plus more Sam Peckinpah and all kinds of other cinematic goodness. I am going to post an entry soon that updates my list of twenty gaps on DVD so you can see just how many of those movies have been released since I wrote it, or are being released soon, and the number of releases is truly gratifying.
Who knows, someday we might even see Holiday on DVD in the US. Not just the 1938 version, but the 1930 one too. “Faith is believing when common sense tells you not to.” Or so they say in the movies.

movies this week: nothing new

The weekend after Thanksgiving is generally pretty low-attendance at the box office, since everyone scurried out during the extended holiday weekend to see all the big shiny blockbusters. Didn’t you? I didn’t, but then I was in Boston eating beans and haddock and clam chowder and looking in the holiday-decorated windows at Filene’s and finding a winter hat that covers my ears without making me look like that chick in The Blair Witch Project. I ended up with the most irresistably adorable hat ever. Every time I put it on, my boyfriend stops whatever he is doing to kiss me. Yes, we’re kind of nauseating in that way sometimes. Better hope you don’t run into us on a cold day.
Anyway, the traditional drop in box office is probably the reason why hardly any new movies are opening this weekend. I guess the conventional wisdom is that we’re all planning to stay home, trim the tree, and watch some old holiday favorite on TV like It’s a Wonderful Life or Brazil. Screw the conventional wisdom, there are plenty of good movies still in theaters, from The Incredibles to The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie to Sideways. Austin theaters are still showing The Motorcycle Diaries, Kinsey, and I Heart Huckabees.

Continue reading movies this week: nothing new