ALEXANDER Revisited: The Final Cut
© Warner Bros.
Stone’s Alex again
By: Brian ThomasDate: Tuesday, February 27, 2007
I was tempted to pretend I was writing this column last week instead of on Monday, giving you a list of my Oscar picks that would of course be 100% accurate, but I’m so ashamed at how off my picks in my Anime Avalanche were for the animated awards that I can’t bring myself to pull such a prank. In truth, picks I’d given to family and friends the last couple weeks were mostly spot on, despite the fact that so many winners turned out to be surprises to most people.
The ceremony was classy, though some of the “entertainment” – clipfests and songs – were a bit tiresome. One exception was a genuinely deserved tribute to Ennio Morricone. I can do no less than to give him some attention down in the NOT ON DVD CORNER below.
SPOTLIGHT OF THE WEEK
Sheesh, if they’re going to go to all that bother of releasing this on DVD in three distinct versions (one per year!), then I feel obligated to give it the spotlight at least once.
(O) ALEXANDER Revisited: The Final Cut (Warner Bros.) Colin Farrell conquers the known world and changes the course of history. Yes, they were just kidding when they released a 167-minute extended director’s cut of Oliver Stone’s 2004 historical epic, and now this is the real, cross-my-heart final director’s 214-minute cut, just as Mr. Stone intended. 2-disc set includes a pass to see 300 for free, but that’s only 117 minutes.
NEW RELEASES
COUNT DRACULA © MARS INVADES THE EARTH © STRANGER THAN FICTION © Sony
(O) AMBUSH TRAIL / RED ROPE (Alpha) Bob Steele western double feature.
(O) ATOMIC AGE CLASSICS Volume 4: Venereal Disease & You (Alpha) Vintage social engineering shorts collection includes “With These weapons”, “Health is Victory”, “A Message To Women” and “The Story of DE733” (AKA “USS VD: Ship of Shame”).
(O) ATOMIC AGE CLASSICS Volume 5: “C” is for Communist (Alpha) Vintage red peril social engineering shorts collection includes “Russia at War”, “Red Myth: International Communism”, “Yankee Go Home”, “Crusade Report” and the incredible “What Is Communism”.
(O) AUTOPSY (Blue Underground) BU picks up a bunch of out-of-print Eurohorror titles from Anchor Bay, including this 1975 chiller from Armando Crispino featuring a score by Ennio Morricone. See more below.
(O) THE BIG SHOW (Alpha) Gene Autrey adventure.
(O) BOILING POINT / FRONTIER JUSTICE (Alpha) Hoot Gibson western double feature.
(O) THE BRIDE AND THE BEAST / WHITE GORILLA (VCI) A “Positively No Refunds Double Feature” of the Ed Wood scripted interspecies love triangle psychotronic classic, plus a jungle tale of simian race relations.
(O) CAPTAIN SCARLET (Alpha) Richard Greene in a 1953 swashbuckler.
(O) CHAINSAW SALLY (POPcinema) Horror legend Herschell Gordon Lewis guest stars in this tale of a meek librarian who becomes a bloodthirsty serial killer at night. Includes commentrak, Making-Of, interviews, music video and more.
(O) CHECK AND DOUBLE CHECK (Alpha) 1930 film spin-off of the smash Amos ‘n’ Andy radio show with the original cast in black face.
(O) CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD (Blue Underground) The Gates of Hell swing open in this gruesome 1980 Eurohorror item from Lucio Fulci.
(O) CONVENTION GIRL (Alpha) Call girl Rose Hobart works the conventions in this 1935 exploitation movie with Shemp Howard.
(O) COP UNBOWED (Tai Seng) Hong Kong cop Alex Fong is disgraced when he disobeys orders to rescue his girlfriend from mobsters. He goes away to live a quieter life, but the bad guys put a price on his head.
(O) CRIME BUSTERS (Somerville House/Koch) Terence Hill and Bud Spencer as comic cops in a 1976 action comedy. With interviews and more.
(O) DEEP RED (Blue Underground) 25th anniversary edition of Dario Argento’s classic giallo in which pianist David Hemmings is witness to a murder in Rome and is compelled to follow up on clues on his own. Uncut – beware of the many inferior versions on bargain collections.
(O) DEPOT OF THE DEAD (Polart) Wretchedly gritty 1959 Polish adventure drama about mountain truck drivers.
(O) DEVIL’S HIGHWAY (Image) Tour bus passengers turn on each other.
(O) DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (Alpha) 1955 version with Michael Rennie. With bonus Lights Out episode.
(O) DON’T TORTURE A DUCKLING (Blue Underground) This 1972 giallo thriller from director Lucio Fulci is nicely restrained compared to his later gorefests.
(O) DREAMLAND (Image) A couple traveling across the desert are stuck in a time warp.
(O) THE GAUNT STRANGER (Alpha) 1939 thriller based on an Edgar Wallace best seller.
(O) GOD, THE UNIVERSE & EVERYTHING ELSE (Kultur) How about the girl and the gold watch? Stephen Hawking, Carl Sagan and Arthur Clarke discuss which American Idol contestants are their favorites. Kidding! They take on Big Bang theory, black holes, extraterrestrial life and the existence of God.
(O) HARLEM RIDES THE RANGE / MURDER IN HARLEM (Alpha) “Race” adventure flicks from the 1930s.
HONOR (Monterey) Street gang action, plus interviews.
(O) THE IMMORTAL Complete Series (Image) Lorenzo Lamas is an ancient demon hunter. 22 episodes on six discs.
(O) INFERNO (Blue Underground) Dario Argento’s 1980 semi-sequel to Suspiria. With interview and more.
(O) KID COURAGEOUS . NEAR THE RAINBOW’S END (Alpha) Bob Steele western double feature.
(O) THE LEGEND OF BLOODY JACK (The Asylum) Campfire urban legend Bloody Jack comes to life when one of his kin resurrects him from the dead.
(O) MAGNUM P.I. Complete Sixth Season (Universal) 20 episodes on five discs.
(O) MELTDOWN: DAYS OF DESTRUCTION (MTI) As a shift in the Earth’s orbit spins the world into turmoil, LA cop Casper Van Dien fights to protect his family.
(O) NARCOTIC (Alpha) Dwain Esper’s 1937 biopic of a quack doctor who falls prey to his own addictive drugs.
(O) ONE MISSED CALL COLLECTION (Media Blasters) 4-disc set includes Takashi Miike’s One Missed Call and Renpei Tsukamoto’s One Missed Call 2, which I would’ve called “Two Missed Call”, but that’s me.
(O) OUTERWORLD (Image) 1987 sci-fi about an out of control female assassin. With Making-Of, bloopers and more. .
(O) PERVERSION STORY (Severin) Uncut version of Lucio Fulci’s 1969 proto-giallo thriller (AKA One On Top of the Other). Includes bonus soundtrack CD by composer Riz Ortolani.
(O) PLANETFALL (Heretic) Two female bounty hunters race to track down a cache of illegal telekinesis-spawning drugs on a chaotic planet in this sci-fi adventure from the director of Go To Hell.
(O) THE RETURN (Universal) Psychic Sarah Michelle Gellar returns to her Texas home town to unravel a terrifying old mystery. With Making-Of, deleted footage, alternate endings and more.
(O) RIDERS OF THE ROCKIES / FRONTIER TOWN (Alpha) Tex Ritter western twin bill.
(O) THE ROCKFORD FILES Season 3 (Universal) 22 episodes on six discs, plus a bonus episode from season 4.
(O) ROCK ROCK ROCK! (Alpha) Early rock & roll showbiz story with DJ Alan Freed.
(O) SECRET AGENT/DANGER MAN Complete Collection (A&E) Patrick McGoohan in an 18-disc set of TV spy adventure.
(O) SHOCK (Blue Underground) Mario Bava’s uncut 1977 chiller about demonic possession and paranoia, which was originally seen on US screens in a butchered version as Beyond the Door 2. With interview and more.
(O) SUPER FUZZ (Somerville House/Koch) Terence Hill as a cop who gains super powers in this 1981 Italian action comedy (AKA Super Snoper). Delayed from two weeks ago.
(O) SYNESTHESIA (ADV) A woman with a rare condition that mixes up her senses holds the key to catching a serial killer in this Japanese thriller. Includes Making-Of, featurettes, interview and more.
(O) TENACIOUS D IN THE PICK OF DESTINY (New Line) Musical biopic of the self proclaimed greatest band in the world. With deleted and extended footage, featurettes, music video and more.
(O) TIDELAND (THINKFilm) A girl recovering from a brutal childhood retreats into a world of her own making in this Terry Gilliam horror fantasy. 2-disc set includes commentrak, interviews, Making-Of, bonus short and more.
(O) VEGAS VAMPIRES (Code Black/Vivendi) A vampire hunts for the perfect bride to continue his dynasty while the Las Vegas police hunt him.
(O) ZEN OF SWORD (Tai Seng) 1992 Hong Kong swordplay action with Cynthia Khan, Kara Hui, Philip Kwok and Michelle Reis.
BLU-RAY DISC CORNER
(O) BULLITT (Warner Bros.) With commentrak, two feature documentaries, vintage featurette and more.
(O) THE GETAWAY (Warner Bros.) With two commentraks, featurettes and more.
(O) STRANGER THAN FICTION (Sony) With deleted footage, outtakes and featurettes.
HD-DVD CORNER
(O) BULLITT (Warner Bros.) With commentrak, two feature documentaries, vintage featurette and more.
(O) THE GETAWAY (Warner Bros.) With two commentraks, featurettes and more.
NOT ON DVD CORNER
We welcome the input of Maniacs who want to share input on this section, where we highlight a different genre feature that has yet to come to digital disc format – just send your suggestions to DVD Shopping List in an email identified with “NOT ON DVD” in the subject line.
(O) FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET (Anchor Bay?, Blue Underground? Image? No Shame? Paramount?) Despite the growing recognition of Dario Argento as a modern master of the horror genre, this 1972 work distributed in the USA by Paramount has yet to appear on home video in the USA. Not the best of Argento, it might be that no one wants to release it because its ending is ridiculous, but that doesn’t stop a lot of much worse films being released.
Be sure to check back next week—and every week—for Mania’s DVD Shopping List! And don’t forget Anime Avalanche every Monday!
DVD Shopping List (© 2007 Brian Thomas) is our weekly DVD column. Brian Thomas is the author of the massive book VideoHound’s Dragon: Asian Action & Cult Flicks, available now!
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