THE SECRET
© TS
DVD Secret revealed!
By: Brian ThomasDate: Tuesday, March 20, 2007
In our Prize Closet this week, we have two copies of The Hunt, courtesy of Image. To enter, just send an email to which includes your name and address DVD Shopping List, and in the subject line put the words “BE VEWY QUIET”.
Not to be outdone, Crash Cinema has provided us with TEN copies of their recent release The Sword. If you’ve been meaning to check out one of their digitally restored vintage martial arts action pictures, many of which have never been seen in the USA before, this is a great opportunity to sample one. For this giveaway, make sure the subject line reads “CRASH SWORD”.
SPOTLIGHT OF THE WEEK
This week, our spotlight falls on Secret knowledge that’s not so secret, but that doesn’t keep people from trying to sell it to you.
(O) THE SECRET (TS) Created by an Australian TV producer, this DVD and book have been selling out across the world, and a shorter version of the “movie” is available to view online at $4.95 a pop. Well, let me save you some dough. Basically, the “Secret” is a combination of positive thinking and visualization, which isn’t exactly a new idea, whether it’s called prayer or hope or anything else. In fact, it’s such an old idea that they’ve supported their feature length pitch with a lot of DaVinci Code inspired trappings before moving on to a stream of slickly-edited sound bites, stock footage of sunsets and beaches, and filmed illustrations of concepts discussed. They also use a lot of new age gobblydegook and pseudoscientific claims. “No one knows how electricity works. But it does” espouses Bob Proctor, Philosopher. Another “expert” tells us you have enough energy in your body to power a city for a week,” which if true would solve all our energy problems – just hook up folks to the grid ala The Matrix. Supposedly, if you keep thinking positive thoughts and concentrate on goals, you will attract factors that will allow you to get what you want. One teacher tells us how he raised a lot of money for charities selling “gratitude rocks” that he used to focus his hopes. It also tells us that the inverse is true – that bad things happen to you because you are negative. In one example, a guy is afraid of getting his bike stolen, so that results in the theft he fears – “The universe responds to your thoughts”. They even go so far as to claim that the Secret can cure cancer! Con men have been selling this snake oil for millennia – most religions are based on it, and every motivational speaker cites it – but for all the examples they give of people who succeed using the Secret (Chicken Soup pop guru Jack Canfield brags about how cool his life is) you could probably come up with an equal number of examples of it not working. There were probably a lot of people in the World Trade Center that were thinking positive thoughts. Sure, if you suffer from depression it tends to be cyclical, and a positive attitude can attract positive results, but it’s not a law of the universe or any miracle. It’s a sociological statistic, and you don’t need to give anybody your money to know this. The producers claim they just want to share their message to help people, but I question their motives due to the price tag they put on it. Includes commentrak, behind-the-scenes and outtakes.
NEW RELEASES
ERAGON © Fox RE-ANIMATOR © Anchor Bay
(O) BLOOD DIAMOND (Warner Bros.) Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou and Jennifer Connelly in a thriller that explains why buying diamonds is as bad as buying fur. Widescreen & “fullscreen” editions include commentrak, plus a widescreen special edition adds on featurettes and a music video.
(O) THE BRIDESMAID (First Run) Claude Chabrol’s 2004 thriller adapting Ruth Rendell’s story of a man who falls for a mysterious woman who draws him into a crime. With featurettes and interview.
(O) COMEDY CENTRAL ROAST OF WILLIAM SHATNER: UNCENSORED! (Comedy Central/Paramount) A gang of comics ream Shat a new one. With Making-Of, interviews and behind-the-scenes.
(O) CRUEL WORLD (Indican) “Reality” TV show horror with Jaime Pressly and Edward Furlong. Delayed from last week.
(O) DEADLIEST CATCH Season One (Image) Discovery Channel hit about the dangers of fishing.
(O) GOING TO PIECES: THE RISE & FALL OF THE SLASHER FILM (Starz/THINKFilm) Documentary covering the slasher horror genre. Includes comentrak.
(O) HOW WILLIAM SHATNER CHANGED THE WORLD (Allumination) Well, not all by himself. Shatner hosts an examination of Star Trek’s effect on society.
(O) THE HUNT (Image) A crew making an instructional hunting video in the deep woods find that something is hunting them. We’re giving some away (see above).
(O) THE HUNT FOR THE BTK KILLER (Sony) TV true crime movie starring Robert Forster, with Gregg Henry (Gilmore Girls) as Dennis Rader.
(O) JOHN WAYNE 20 MOVIE PACK (Mill Creek) Includes The Dawn Rider, The Desert Trail, The Lucky Texan, 'Neath Arizona Skies, Rainbow Valley, The Trail Beyond, Texas Terror, The Star Packer, Paradise Canyon, Riders of Destiny, West of the Divide, Winds of the Wasteland, Hell Town, The Lawless Frontier, The Man from Utah, Randy Rides Alone, Blue Steel, Sagebrush Trail, Angel and the Badman and McLintock.
(O) KILLING MACHINE (Image) A high school prostitute is re-animated by science and seeks revenge. Includes featurette.
(O) LARA CROFT DOUBLE FEATURE (Paramount) Includes both Tomb Raider and Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life.
(O) MANA: BEYOND BELIEF (Genius) New mondo documentary explores various bits of weirdness around the world.
(O) MASTERS OF HORROR: Pro-Life (Anchor Bay) Season 2 continues with John Carpenter. When a young woman is involved in an accident and is taken to a women’s health clinic, her nutty father Ron Perlman tries to “rescue” her, but everyone really needs rescuing from what’s inside her. Includes commentrak, Making-Of featurettes and more.
(O) MAUDE Complete First Season (Sony) This spin-off from All in the Family about a middle aged liberal matron was a big freakin’ deal back in 1972 because it dealt with issues like abortion and menopause, not to mention that it was pretty funny.
(O) McHALE’S NAVY Season One (Shout Factory) This 1962 Pacific Theater World War II sitcom starring Ernest Borgnine and Tim Conway never mentioned abortion or menopause, but it occasionally dealt with racism in an easygoing manner. All 36 episodes on five discs.
(O) MIAMI VICE Season 3 (Universal) 24 episodes on five discs.
(O) MIAMI VICE Season 4 (Universal) 22 episodes on five discs.
(O) MICHAEL SHAYNE, PRIVATE DETECTIVE COLLECTION Volume 1 (Fox) 1940s B-movie mystery series starring Lloyd Nolan as Brett Halliday’s laconic gumshoe. Includes Michael Shayne Private Detective, The Man Who Wouldn’t Lie, Sleepers West and Blue White and Perfect.
(O) MYTHBUSTERS: Mega Movie Myths (Image) The Discovery Channel faves examine if movie clichés are based on reality.
(O) NAKED CITY (Criterion) Noir meets naturalism in this landmark 1948 police procedural. With commentrak, interview, essay and more.
(O) NEWSRADIO Complete Fifth Season (Sony) 22 episodes on five discs, plus deleted footage and gag reel.
(O) RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD: RAVE TO THE GRAVE (Lionsgate) The side effects of a newly discovered hallucinogen turn users into zombies. This appears to have been filmed back-to-back with the previous entry Necropolis in 2005, with the lead cast reprising their roles.
(O) ROCKY BALBOA (Sony) The long-not-awaited sequel. Includes commentrak, bloopers, featurettes, deleted footage and more.
(O) TRAPPED (Genius) Internet security consultant Alexandra Paul and her daughter are abducted to force her cooperation in a plot to kill a crime witness.
(O) VENGEANCE IS A GOLDEN BLADE (Image) 1969 Shaw Brothers Hong Kong swordplay action
(O) W.C. FIELDS COMEDY COLLECTION Volume 2 (Universal) .Fields, who thrived on a truly original comic persona finding his way through a mad world of eccentrics, works his magic in the sublime sitcom The Man on the Flying Trapeze (1935) and the brilliantly surreal Hollywood exposé Never Give A Sucker An Even Break (1941), along with his lesser gems You’re Telling Me! (1934), The Old Fashioned Way (1934), and the overly sentimental Poppy (1936).
(O) WILD WILD WEST Complete Second Season (Paramount) 28 episodes on seven discs.
BLU-RAY DISC CORNER
(O) BIG FISH (Sony) Includes Tim Burton commentrak.
(O) ERAGON (Fox)
(O) FINDING NEVERLAND (Miramax/Buana Vista)
(O) ROCKY BALBOA (Sony) Includes commentrak, bloopers, featurettes, deleted footage 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) ATOMIK CIRCUS (Anchor Bay?, Blue Underground? Image? No Shame? Media Blasters? Anybody?) This very strange romantic comedy sci-fi horror adventure was created by French filmmakers the Poiraud Brothers in 2004. The plot concerns bad boy stuntman Jason Flemyng’s efforts to reunite with small town beauty Vanessa Paradis, but to do so he needs to get past her thuggish father, a backwoods cannibal psycho, a shifty music agent, and – oh yes – an invading horde of flying squids from outer space. The result is a crazed mish-mash of elements including musical numbers, dog abuse, excellent f/x, manic action and black humor. A cult hit around the world, hardly anybody in the USA has heard of it because it’s NOT ON DVD.
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!
Questions? Comments? Let us know what you think at DVD Shopping List.
Pfft... the universe has been out to get me since 1st grade. It's why I stay home and watch TV.
>>“No one knows how electricity works..."
Uh, someone needs to tell him that we know exactly how electricity and that we've just never told him.
My high school gym teacher was Bob Proctor. He was all muscles... between the ears. Wonder if it's same guy. Dude was never positive about how I ran the 40-yard dash.