Stupid excited that my favorite movie from 2001 finally is out on Blu-ray.
Movies
MonsterFest Wrap-Up
MonsterFest 2018 is now in the history books.
As always, we had a great time visiting Dr. Phibes and Co. There was lots of beer, cocktails, and tasty food. Saturday, we went on a boat trip to Cumberland Island and got to see Dolphins. That was super cool. That afternoon, Dr. Phibes and I went and saw the new Halloween movie. We thought it was aces! Don’t listen to the haters.
We also watched and seriously loved The Curious World of Christine McConnell (which is now streaming on Netflix). It’s so wonderfully weird and quirky. We laughed quite a bit.
How can you not love Rose (reanimated roadkill with lots of sass … and a nipple fetish)?
The drives down and back were quite annoying. It seems like you can’t go anywhere now-a-days without road construction and dumbass drivers making the trip long and frustrating. We did end up detouring on the way down (because of a wreck) and got to see some tiny BFE crossroads towns in South Carolina’s Lowcountry. It was cool because a lot of those little towns still had beautiful 100 year-old homes. I want a big, rambling, 100 year-old home (preferably with ghosts)!
Anyhoo …
MonsterFest 2018 Movies:
Halloween (1978)
The Changeling
Murder Party
Wonder Women
Cat People
Planet of the Vampires
The Devil’s Rain
The Colour of Blood (Thriller, S01E05)
Halloween (2018)
Near Dark
Insidious
The Skull
The Curious World of Christine McConnell (Season 1)
The Horror of Party Beach
Asylum
The Psychopath
The Mummy (1959)
Upcoming!
Super stoked that Criterion has announced a new blu-ray edition of one of my favoritest movies of all time …. Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious! Such an amazingly romantic and thrilling film. Plus, Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman. What more do you need? It streets on January 19, 2019.
- New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- Audio commentaries from 1990 and 2001 featuring Alfred Hitchcock scholar Marian Keane and film historian Rudy Behlmer
- New interview with Hitchcock biographer Donald Spoto
- New program about the film’s visuals with cinematographer John Bailey
- New scene analysis by film scholar David Bordwell
- Once Upon a Time . . . “Notorious,” a 2009 documentary about the film featuring actor Isabella Rossellini; filmmakers Peter Bogdanovich, Claude Chabrol, and Stephen Frears; and others
- New program about Hitchcock’s storyboarding and previsualization process by filmmaker Daniel Raim
- 1948 newsreel footage of actor Ingrid Bergman and Hitchcock
- 1948 Lux Radio Theatre adaptation of Notorious, starring Bergman and Joseph Cotten
- Trailers and teasers
- PLUS: An essay by critic Angelica Jade Bastién
High Hopes
The trailer for the new movie version of Pet Sematary dropped today … and it looks pretty damn fine! Pet Sematary is probably the most disturbing book I have ever read. So, imagine my disappointment when the 1989 film version turned out to be campy and not at all scary or disturbing. Mary Lambert (director) and Stephen King (who adapted his own book for the screenplay) dropped the ball BIG TIME. I can’t even begin to tell you how much I HATE what they put on film. Here’s hoping that Kevin Kölsch / Dennis Widmyer (directors) and Jeff Buhler (screenplay) give Pet Sematary some much needed big screen justice. We have to wait until April 2019 to find out though. Bummer.
Meanwhile [Horror Edition]
I am usually not one to be all excited for remakes (or reboots or re-imaginings or whatever the fuck you want to call them) … but I will say I am getting pretty pumped for the upcoming new take on Dario Argento‘s 1977 classic, Suspiria. Don’t let me down, Luca Guadagnino!
The Wrap-Up
So … I might have gone a little nuts at this summer’s B&N/Criterion 50% Off Sale. These are some damn fine movies though.
The Incredibles 2 [3 Word + 1 Emoji Review]
So. Incredibly. Disappointing. 🙁
Hereditary [Quickie Thoughts]
Shortlegs and I caught Hereditary last weekend.
I really dug it. Take one messed up family and then mess it a little further through tragedy and maybe something more. I am not going to say much more than that because I don’t want to spoil any of the fun … because there are some genuinely surprising twists and turns. I want to go see this again because there is a lot to unpack.
As a Side Note:
Hereditary is another example of how expectations can ruin the movie-going experience for everyone. The audience we saw it with must have been expecting a “jump scare” marathon. You could feel the mood in the room change about 3/4 of the way through. People started getting restless, making noises, and laughing at things that should have been scary. The people that aren’t enjoying the movie ruin it for those of us who are really into it. It was a total repeat of my viewings of The VVitch and It Comes at Night (both great, unsettling horror movies released by A24 that don’t play well for mainstream audiences). I love that A24 is releasing more unconventional horror movies. I just wish the general public would catch on to this as well and leave anything with A24 before the title to us hardcore horror fans.
Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami [Quickie Thoughts]
I *finally* got to see the Sophie Fiennes documentary Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami this past weekend. I totally dig Grace Jones and was super stoked for this. Ultimately, it was disappointing. The concert footage is electrifying and certain parts detailing Jones’ offstage (and backstage) life are interesting … but there are large sections that meander along with no real focus. This might have been okay if the movie was about a half hour shorter. At nearly two hours it’s just a little too much since the approach seems so haphazard. This was a miss for me. Bummer. Now I need to drag out my old State of Grace VHS to get a real Grace Jones fix.
This Weekend
With Avengers: Infinity War opening this weekend, it’s time to totally slip back into my Chris Evans/Captain America Obsession. *sigh*
But The Good Thing Is …
All this extra work means more bank for the annual B&N/Criterion 50% Off Sale in July. I am going to go broke this year as Criterion has been putting out a lot of good stuff.
The Dietrich & von Sternberg in Hollywood set looks amazing with six early Hollywood films from director Josef von Sternberg featuring German actress Marlene Dietrich.
And … I would love to get the 100 Years of Olympic Films: 1912-2012 set but have not been able to justify dropping the $$$ on it (mainly just for Olympia and Tokyo Olympiad).
Justice League: Mini Review
Finally saw Justice League this past weekend … and I can say that the only good thing about it is Henry Cavill being shirtless through the whole re-introduction of Superman. Amy Adams sure is lucky! 😛
Spotted on QE …
I broke down (mainly because I was bored) and watched the reboot of Queer Eye on Netflix. The show was pretty fun … but what really caught my eye was the The Art and Making of Hannibal: The Television Series book prominently displayed on Joe’s bookshelf in the Below Average Joe episode. It’s a sweet book about one of the best shows ever to be televised. It caught Bryan Fuller’s eye as well. How fun. It’s nice to know Joe has great taste (pun not intended) in television.