Celluloid Heroes

After all the Star Wars-related doom and gloom, I’m happy to report there is also good news on the DVD horizon.

The 1982 Ridley Scott cult classic, Blade Runner, was one of the first films released on DVD in 1997. The presentation was, to put it mildly, not up to current standards. Shockingly, there has not been an updated DVD release since, so the only version available had, quite frankly, a very sub-standard picture. Also, the only version of the film available was 1992 so-called “director’s cut,” which really wasn’t a director’s cut at all. There was supposed to be an ultimate, true director’s cut several years ago, but that managed to get held up in legal limbo due to the fact that the legal owner of the film, producer Jerry Perenchio, and director Ridley Scott hated each other’s guts.

Happily, Warner Brothers has managed to cut through the ill-will and legal bullshit and get the ball rolling.

(more…)

First of all, let me apologize about being away from the blog for so long. I was down with pneumonia and not feeling up to writing about this. Also, I’ve been focused on getting a new podcast off the ground. It has nothing to do with Celluloid Heroes, but stay tuned.

If you recall my mentioning recently, the original, unedited versions of the first Star Wars trilogy are due to be released on DVD on September 12. That was supposed to be good news but sadly George Lucas has found a way to screw it up. The DVDs will contain nothing more than copies of the laserdisc versions released in 1993. This means that the images will not be anamorphically enhanced for widescreen televisions.

What does this mean and why is it bad?

(more…)

As many of you might know, HD DVD is Toshiba’s candidate for a high definition replacement for good old DVD (which is less than ten years old and probably doesn’t need replacing in a lot of people’s eyes, but that’s a story of another day).

Lorin Thwaits didn’t even bother to hook his new Toshiba HD DVD player to his big screen TV. Instead, he took it apart to see what makes it tick (do not try this at home, folks!). (more…)

You saved her life. She’s returning the favor.

Sired by Seabiscuit and Old Yeller, Dreamer is a journeyman pony with a lot of heart but not a lot of flash. Not showing us anything we haven’t seen before, it still runs a solid race and might even place or show on a good night. Okay, I think I’ve stretched that metaphor about as far as it will go without it snapping back and decapitating somebody.

(more…)

He’s been most inconvenient since I swore to loathe him for eternity.

Jane Austen’s 1813 novel has almost been anointed as the “mother of all romantic comedies.” Certainly, its plot, in which the two protagonists disguise growing affection behind barbed language and outward contempt for each other, is now a well-trod path and was so even in Austen’s day. Lizzie (Keira Knightley) and Mr. Darcy (Matthew Macfadyen) are very much spiritual descendents of Beatrice and Benedick in Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing.

It also has to be one of the most adapted novels in cinema history, with eight film versions, including this one, and three television adaptations. Joe Wright’s 2005 film manages to do a masterful job of compressing the novel’s plot into a reasonable two-hour running time. The movie manages to do justice to the film’s characters, Austen’s language and major themes within the confines of a feature length film.

(more…)

I have t-shirts older than you.

Prime illustrates that sharp writing and good casting can overcome a story that strains credibility to the breaking point. The main plot point of this film depends on a series of coincidences akin to getting struck by lightning while winning the Powerball lottery. Fortunately, the actors and the characters they inhabit hold our empathy enough that we almost don’t notice.

(more…)

This will be a day long remembered…

This September: Original Unaltered Trilogy on DVD

You heard it right, folks. Lucasfilm is releasing the original, undesecrated ‘77/’80/’83 versions of the Star Wars Trilogy on September 12!

Call me a happy camper. I’m so tickled, I’ll refrain from saying that it’s about damn time.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for I am the baddest motherfucker in the valley.

Jarhead is a film about the other harsh reality of war, the tens of thousands of soldiers who endure endless days and weeks of crushing boredom, loneliness and deprivation, only to never get the chance to use the skills that they’ve often spent years honing. Anthony “Swoff” Swofford (Jake Gyllenhall) was a Marine Scout-Sniper during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. He lives and breathes for that one perfect head-shot during a shooting war. “I want the pink mist,” he tells us, referring to the blood spray that results from a 7.62mm slug striking a human cranium.

(more…)