Viva La Bambi

By: BRIAN THOMAS
Date: Tuesday, March 01, 2005

For years, a hobby of mine is collecting found photographs. Not the thrift store kind, but pics I find on the sidewalk or on the floor in stores. Maybe someday I'll make a gallery show or a website with them. I've also found cassettes (usually mix tapes of bad rap) and VHS tapes. Once I found a tape with six hours of really awful amateur porn lying in the park. On occasion, I've even wound up loose tape on a spare cassette to see what's on it.

The other day I picked up my first found DVD from a melting snowdrift, where it was no doubt hurled by a precocious kid. It's a Discovery Kids disc with a couple episodes from the Saturday morning NBC cartoon TUTENSTEIN, plus some DVD-ROM games and puzzles. It was filthy and is all scratched up, but after a quick clean up with a towel, it plays perfectly (oh, the power of digital technology). The mysterious part is that no Region 1 DVDs of this show have been released yet, so my best guess is that it's some sort of cereal box premium. Can anyone solve this mystery? If so, please write me via psycho@psychotronic.info, and if you want it, I'll send the disc to the first one to clear up this case.

 

SPOTLIGHT OF THE WEEK

This week, beware, for Man is in the Forest.

(O) BAMBI (Buena Vista) Classic Disney adaptation of Felix Salten's story that introduced the concept of death and renewal to countless children. Now why is it that so many strippers are named after this Prince of the Forest. Beautiful digitally restored 2-disc edition includes Making-Of featurettes, deleted scenes, games, classic short "The Old Mill", a 1957 DISNEYLAND episode and lots more.

NEW RELEASES

(O) ALIEN LOCKDOWN (First Look) A mad scientist unleashes dormant alien predators.

(O) ANGELS AND DEMONS REVEALED (Ventura) New documentary reveals the plot by the Bavarian Illuminati to overthrow the Vatican. Ha! As if either secret society actually exists! 
(O) BEASTMASTER Season 1 Volume 3 (Anchor Bay)
(O) BEASTMASTER Season 1 Volume 4 (Anchor Bay)
(O) BOOGIEPOP AND OTHERS (ADV) Live-action prequel to the hit horror anime series BOOGIEPOP PHANTOM.
(O) THE BRADY BUNCH: Complete First Season (Paramount) 1969 seasoning of the ultimate dumb family sitcom. With commentraks and featurette.
(O) BRINGING UP BABY (Warner Bros.) Paleontologist Cary Grant tries to save his marriage, his sanity, and his Apatosaurus bone from madcap heiress Katherine Hepburn in one of the funniest comedies ever. Available separately or in WB's CLASSIC COMEDIES box set with DINNER AT EIGHT, PHILADELPHIA STORY (another special edition with Grant & Hepburn), LIBELED LADY, TO BE OR NOT TO BE and TWENTIETH CENTURY.
(O) DOCTOR WHO: The Green Death (BBC) Jon Pertwee was always my favorite Timelord..
(O) DOCTOR WHO: The Visitation (BBC) Peter Davison fights the plague in 1666 England.
(O) DOUBLES (Pathfinder) Japanese heist thriller in which two experts get trapped in an elevator during a job.
(O) THE DRAGON, THE HERO (Crash) John Lui and Tino Wong in a 1979 Godfrey Ho kung fu flick (aka DRAGON ON FIRE). Widescreen!
(O) EXORCIST: THE BEGINNING (Warner Bros.) Renny Harlin's overblown theatrical prequel to the Exorcist franchise. Widescreen and narrowscreen editions include director commentrak, Making-Of and more.
(O) EXTRATERRESTRIAL VISITORS (Eclectic/Music Video) 1983 Eurotrash ET/ALIEN knock-off, better known via MST3k as POD PEOPLE.
(O) FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX (Fox) Modern remake of the classic about plane crash victims whose only hope of survival is to repair their own plane in the middle of a desert. Widescreen & fullscreen editions include director commentrak, Making-Of and more.
(O) GHOST DAD (Universal) While riding high on the success of his hit sitcom, Bill Cosby made some really awful movies, including this one.
(O) THE I INSIDE (Buena Vista) Ryan Phillippe and Sarah Polley in another amnesia suspense thriller.
(O) INCIDENT AT LOCH NESS (Fox) Hilarious behind-the-scenes turmoil erupts as Werner Herzog attempts to film a documentary about the Loch Ness Monster. Includes commentrak, deleted scenes, outtakes and more.
(O) LAS VEGAS SERIAL KILLER (Media Blasters) Ray Dennis Steckler's 1986 shot at a BOSTON STRANGLER type True Crime psycho story, shot in his trademark low budget verité manner. Includes director commentrak, interview and more.
(O) LOST IN SPACE Season 3 Volume 1 (Fox)
(O) NIRVANA (Buena Vista) Sci-fi with Christopher Lambert as a game designer who comes to realize that the main character in his new game has developed independent intelligence.
(O) RED TROUSERS (Tai Seng) Terrific documentary on Hong Kong movie stuntmen, directed by former stuntman/star Robin Shou (MORTAL KOMBAT), occasionally interrupted by scenes from an action featurette made by Shou just to demonstrate the stunt team's work. With commentrak, interviews, deleted scenes and more.
(O) THE RUTLES 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch (BBC) 2002 sequel to the 1978 TV mockumentary about a certain bandof mop-tops, with Eric Idle and Neil Innes reprising their roles.
(O) SCTV NETWORK 90 Volume 3 (Shout Factory) Nine shows of biting Canadian comedy from the fourth season on 5 discs, plus commentraks, interviews, and a bonus audio CD. Now with bonus Martin Short.
(O) THE SEAGULL'S LAUGHTER (Home Vision) Odd Icelandic drama in which a woman returns home to her quiet fishing village fleeing afailed marriage in America, bringing with her strange and some say supernatural ways. Includes Making-Of, deleted scenes and more.
(O) SECRET LIFE OF THE NINJA (Crash) Chen Kuan-tai in an unbelievable cheesy ninja movie in which he plays a tough cop trying to catch tougher assassins. Widescreen!
(O) SEXY STORYBOOK COLLECTION (Image) Something Weird box set collects releases from the sexploitation vault of Dave Friedman, including EROTIC ADVENTURES OF ZORRO, TRADER HORNEE, ADULT VERSION OF JEKYLL & HYDE, SINDERELLA & THE GOLDEN BRA, GOLDILOCKS & THE THREE BARES, NOTORIOUS DAUGHTER OF FANNY HILL and THE HEAD MISTRESS.
(O) SWEET GEORGIA / COUNTRY HOOKER (Image) Two early 1970s redneck adult features courtesy of Something Weird Video, plus shorts, tons of trailers and more.
(O) TARZ & JANE & CHEETA & BOY / TARZUN & THE VALLEY OF LUST (Image) Twin bill of legally actionable 1970s adult features, courtesy of Something Weird Video, plus the featurette KARZIN IN CUBA, 5 musical shorts, trailers and more.
(O) WONDER WOMAN Complete Second Season (Warner Bros.) Super-hottie jumps from WWII to the 1970s for her second season. Also available bundled with season 1.

ANIME AVALANCHE

And finally, we close off each weekly list with a rundown of the constant stream of anime from around the world:

(O) THE DAICHIS: EARTH'S DEFENSE FAMILY Volume 2: Debt Doomed (Geneon) The family substitutes battle suit upgrades for teamwork, running up a hugve debt.

(O) DAPHNE IN THE BRILLIANT BLUE Volume 1: Initiation (Geneon) Evicted and kicked out of school, Maia accepts a job as bait in a dangerous espionage operation.
(O) DIVERGENCE EVE Volume 1: Welcome to Watcher's Nest (ADV) Another sc-fi series about babes fighting space aliens. Includes commentrak and mini-manga.
(O) DNANGEL Volume 3: Facets of Darkness (ADV) Includes commentrak and featurettes.
(O) FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST Starter Set Volume 1 (Funimation) First 4 episodes and soundtrack CD in a tin box.
(O) GATEKEEPERS Volume 8 (Geneon) Villains use Tokyo Tower to broadcast paranormal frequencies.
(O) THE GOKUSEN Volume 3: The Road to Graduation (Media Blasters) Drama and intrigue in a high school.
(O) HELLO KITTY & FRIENDS: Basket of Fun (ADV) Kitty alienates her friends by renting GHOST DAD.
(O) IKKI-TOUSEN Volume 4: Fighting Fate! (Geneon) Cat fight! (O) KALEIDO STAR NEW WINGS Volume 1: Eclipse of a Star (ADV) Season 2 begins.
(O) NEW GETTER ROBO Volume 1: Rude Awakenings (Geneon) Huge monsters are out to destroy a hard to control new battle robot.
(O) SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS THE MOVIE (Paramount) Talking sea creatures go on an epic adventure that promotes an asexual agenda on the nation's youth. Widescreen and squarescreen editions include Making-Of, animatics, game demo and more.
(O) TENCHI IN TOKYO Volume 8: A New Ending (Geneon) Tenchi enters Yugi's crystal fortress.
(O) TENCHI UNIVERSE COLLECTION 8: The Last Battle (Geneon) Girls enter a swimsuit contest to win money to repair their spaceship.

And be sure to check back next weekand every weekfor CINESCAPE's DVD Shopping List!

DVD Shopping List (© 2005 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 DVDShoppingList@cinescape.com.