Rajorajorajo | 22 Nov 2011 | 445 Views | 2 Likes | 0 Dislikes

The DVD/BLU RAY Shed: November 22

Sure, sure... save all the great new releases for the weeks leading up to Christmas. Makes sense, DVD/Blu Ray distribution houses...

HERE THEY ARE! TODAY'S OFFERING COURTESY OF THE GOOD MOVIE GODS:

Super 8
Dir. J. J. Abrams

One of the brighter spots of this past summer’s blockbuster season was the result of an attempt by Abrams to bring a 70s-era Spielbergian family film back to theatres, and for my money he succeeded. He absolutely nailed the period, cast an awesome bunch of charismatic kid actors and he even shot many of the scenes in ways reminiscent of Close Encounters or E.T. Plus, the story is kinda cool... Matt “Spielberg Lover” Brown may remain unconvinced, but I ate it up - Super 8 is great, unapologetically nostalgic and very satisfying to your inner film-lover.

Conan The Barbarian
Dir. Marcus Nispel

Doesn’t hold a candle to the 1982 Milius film. Not even close. Rising star Jason Momoa (Game of Thrones) has a good look, but as Mike says, he’s not the on-screen monster Schwartzenegger was and needed to be in order to help audiences get past some of the dumber aspects of the Conan character. Stephen Lang’s performance as the baddie was pretty remarkable and Rose McGowan was sufficiently creepy, but they can’t touch James Earl Jones’ ‘Two Snakes Facing Each Other’ cult. Don’t waste your time...

Criterion Collection: Rushmore
Dir. Wes Anderson

Bottle Rocket demonstrated that Wes Anderson had a knack for crafting endearing and entertaining characters and putting them in funny situations, but his work on Rushmore was some next-level shit... He basically created an entire universe for his endearing and entertaining characters to inhabit which only served to make them even more three-dimensional and sympathetic, allowing for the heart of the story to shine through - which it does, in every single meticulously composed frame. This is definitely one to own.

Criterion Collection: 12 Angry Men
Dir. Sidney Lumet

Another one for your home collection... Sidney Lumet adapts this Reginald Rose teleplay for the big screen and ends up making one of the most famous courtroom nail-biters ever put to celluloid. And it pretty much all takes place in one simple location... huh. 12 Jurors must put aside differences and unanimously decide on the fate of a young boy accused of murder. Of course by the end they do, but not before being forced to carefully examine their own values and prejudices in the process. Smart cinema is smart.

Three Amigos!
Dir. John Landis

Ok, everything else released today is pretty much garbage compared to this severely and criminally underrated classic. Why this isn’t also a Criterion release will be a mystery for the ages... You might think I’m joking, but let me assure you: this is one of my top three movies of all time. Chase, Martin and Short each bring their specific comedic strengths to the table and a veritable comedy gourmet is consumed by the viewer. You’ve got puns, pratfalls, mistaken identities, cultural insensitivity, sewing... This story of Hollywood heroes cum real-world saviours takes so many zigs and zags. Once you think you know where it’s headed a completely unpredictable and hilarious bit comes out of nowhere and smacks you on the butt.

If you don’t believe me, here’s a NSFW clip to convince you (NSFW because you will be laughing so hard and disrupt your co-workers which will probably get you fired)

Did you like the article?

Dislike Thanks for rating!

3 Comments So Far. Have Your Say: SUBMIT

What is your name?
So that we know you're a real person: What colour is the sky?

Loading comments...