Diamonds Are Forever
© MGM
DVD Shopping Bag Column Has Arrived
By: Robert T. TrateDate: Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Summer is over. Rob Zombie’s “Halloween” is the last official movie of the summer. Some will say that Hollywood actually went out with a bang with “Superbad”, but this humble moviegoer will say that Hollywood went out with an unoriginal idea, Rob Zombie’s “Halloween”. Nonetheless, we now all turn our attention to the fall. What summer movies will be released with special editions? What film will finally have a directors cut? Above all, what studio will rake us over the coals for an Ultimate Edition?
I will be roaming the globe, ahem, the internet to you bring all the very latest releases and what you should be looking for every Tuesday. Many times, I am sad to say, the big retail stores are not going to carry what we, the true film aficionados, are looking for. In our modern era it isn’t so difficult to find that particularly obscure film. They are now just a mouse click away.
With Labor Day only a day behind us the DVD shelves look a tad bleak today. In the weeks to come horror films are going to be more abundant than ever. Many of the Midnite Movie Double Features will be off the moratorium list and re-released by MGM. There are several horror films and special edition box sets that drove me insane just seeing their cover art. Until these gems are available we are just going to have to make do.
Buyer Beware
The Final Bare Bone Bond DVDs Hit the Shelves!
The last of the James Bond films are finally coming to DVD, again. Back in 2000 MGM Home Entertainment released almost Criterion like quality DVD’s of all their James Bond titles. These Special Editions came and went over the last six years, much with the passing of Pierce Brosnan. In preparation for the “Casino Royal” release MGM had released all of the Bonds in November of 2006 for the holiday season in three different box sets. The downside was you could not pick and choose the Bonds you wanted. If you wanted “Thunderball” you had to buy “License to Kill” too. Sorry MGM, but I am not taking valuable shelf space with a stink bomb like “License to Kill”. MGM then released new Ultimate Editions that had two discs, one with the film and the other full of extras. Now as we approach 2008, yet another Bond in the works, MGM is finishing out their run of not so special editions (see below). Bare bone copies of the Bond films with none of the thrills.
Dr. No (1962) is the very first James Bond and one of the few without the Bond formula (gadgets, evil vixens, opening title song sequence, etc.). Those of you that love “Casino Royal” (2007) and need more James Bond go back to the original and see where it all started.
Diamonds Are Forever (1971) starring Sean Connery in his last “official” outing as OO7. For the James Bond completist only; anyone else who loves James Bond films or even half way decent cinema, stay away from this dude of a film and save your money.
Live and Let Die (1973) Roger Moore’s first outing as OO7 and though it is incredibly dated in look, he has one thing that many Bonds do not have and that is an incredibly hot Jane Seymour as the girl.
Octopussy (1983) Roger Moore’s second to last outing is one huge mess. Even though I have seen the movie several times (courtesy of multiple James Bond marathons) I still can’t tell you what it is about. This was the James Bond that came out at the same time as “Never Say Never Again” (1983). Both are bad and both don’t ever need to be purchased. It does mark one of the few times Q (Desmond Llewelyn) is involved on an actual mission outside of supplying the gadgets.
If you are looking for the Special Editions or the Ultimate Editions of all the James Bond films, minus “License to Kill” of course, look for them on Amazon or EBay. If you just want to complete your collection or give a James Bond movie as a gift, these latest releases are reasonably priced, but contain nothing you haven’t already seen during a James Bond marathon.
Out Today in TV Land
Starring Wentworth Miller, Dominic Purcell, and William Fichtner. In case you missed the second season, or perhaps you just want to catch up, Fox is releasing the second season of their hit series “Prison Break” just a few weeks before Season 3 airs. Along with a few commentaries on selected episodes, this box set includes a bonus disc which has a feature called the “Reinvention of a Series” plus a documentary on how “Turning Dallas into America” was accomplished. Though look for the “Kill Clip” which is a hidden Easter Egg. To get a full break down check out the Mania write up click here.
Starring Melendy Britt, Alan Oppenheimer, and George DiCenzo. I know you have been waiting for She-Ra Season Two in secret. It is every “Masters of the Universe” fan’s guilty pleasure. Without a volume number on this season, the final 27 episodes must be included rounding out the “She-Ra – Princess of Power” series.
Starring Seth Green, Breckin Meyer, and a slew of Hollywood’s elite and not so elite who are all to ready to make fun of themselves and Hollywood. If you don’t watch this show or have never even seen an episode, surely you live under a rock. It’s clever, quick witted, and better than what is on Saturday Night Live. So stop watching “Robot Chicken” segments on Youtube and watch the complete episode as it was intended. We need to give Seth Green our money so he can keep the laughs coming. Special Features include:Deleted Scenes, Gag Reel, and Video Blogs.
Horror Premieres on DVD Today
Wind Chill
Starring Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada), Ashton Holmes (A History of Violence ) and directed by Gregory Jacobs (Christmas Break). “A young woman catches a ride home from a stranger she meets through a college ride board. Racing to beat a severe winter storm, the two young travelers take a shortcut down a remote country road, only to find themselves forced into a snow bank by a mysterious vehicle that engages them in a dangerous game of chicken. Over the long night that ensues, an intense relationship develops between the pair as they must brave the elements and confront the road’s sinister legacy that dates back to the terrible events that occurred there in the 1950s”. (Sony Pictures)
Starring Adrienne Barbeau (Swamp Thing), Nicholas Brendon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and directed by Daryl Goldberg. “What begins as a family tragedy will soon lead to a conspiracy of bizarre crimes, occult carnage and a necromancer who may control a dark new trinity of warfare. How far would our government go to harness a Nazi legacy of paranormal power? Has the U.S. military secretly attempted to develop time travel, invisibility and mind-control as weapons? The answers wait in a mind-blowing journey that will take one woman from the trauma of the unimaginable to the ultimate horror of the UNHOLY”. (Anchor Bay Ent.)
Anime Titles Released Today
Check out the Original DVD before you see the remake!
With the return of the weekly DVD Shopping Bag Column to Mania, I thought I would highlight the original film the week that its remake hits the big screen. This week 3:10 to Yuma will arrive starring Christian Bale and Russell Crowe and the original 3:10 to Yuma from 1957 stars, Glen Ford and Van Heflin. It isn’t your typical western. In many ways it isn’t even a western. It is a battle of wills between to men; that battle just happens to take place in the old west.
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