DVDs this week include Doctor Who's Colony in Space, Red vs. Blue Season 9, Community Season 1, and three Soderbergh films, Out of Sight, The Informant! and The Good German. After years of bumming off one roommate or another's Xbox, I got my own. They make them slin, whisper quiet and Wi-Fi these days, so I'm impressed. Also, have to get my GTA achievements all over again.
"Accomplishments"
DVDs: I'd never seen Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid before this week and boy, was I missing out. It's the complete package. Funny, exciting, thrilling and redolent with meaning, with a startling use of musical sequences and the most charismatic actors of their day. It made a star of Robert Redford, and Paul Newman is at the top of his game too. This ultimate collector's edition has loads of making of material, a mix of vintage, 1994 and 2006 interviews, lots of behind the scenes footage, and 2 commentary tracks. Some redundancies are to be expected, but by putting the focus on different aspects, from production to history, for example, that's mostly avoided. Each featurette has something new to offer. You'll also find the deleted scene (sans audio) with Butch and the Kid seeing themselves die in a movie, production notes and a few bits more.
Rewatched Captain America - The First Avenger as well, and it remains a cool Weird War II movie, something I hope isn't lost in an eventual sequel. It would be a shame to lose the WWII characters - Tommy Lee Jones as Colonel Phillips, Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter, and the Howling Commandos - so I'd hope any future Cap project would at least feature flashbacks to the War. If the commentary track wasn't kidding, such a story might also include the Winter Soldier, since Bucky had been experimented on by Hydra before his untimely fall. That commentary is a lot of fun, but limited like the rest of the extras which amount (on this edition anyway) to a short making of focused on creating Cap's look. I thought they'd used face replacement to create sickly Steve Rogers, but it's actually a body-shrinking CGI process. I'd like to have known more. What's there is fine, it just doesn't answer every question. There's also a different Avengers trailer from the one at the end of the movie.
Does it show? I'm trying to get through my unflipped movie shelf alphabetically. Carrie is next, a film that remains possibly my favorite horror film of all time, though I'll admit to not being a horror fan. Even so, the 70s are definitely my favorite era for the genre. They knew how to create a disturbing atmosphere in those days, which works for me a lot better than disgusting gore or leap-out-of-the-dark frights. Plus, Carrie is ABOUT something. It's about the anxieties of growing up and discovering one's sexuality, and Brian Da Palma does a lot with the theme. And what about that cast? Sissy Spacek's creepy Carrie is supported by the awesome Piper Laurie (strange to see how charming she is in interviews, when I mostly know her for strange roles), John Travolta, Robocop's partner, Sloane's wife and the Greatest American Hero! Most in their first major appearance. The DVD extras deliver too. The making of documentary is split into two 40-minute segments, one on the actors and the other on the production (all the alumni participate except Travolta), there's a shorter bit on the Carrie musical (but alas no sound or video), a photo gallery and production notes on the Stephen King's writing of the novel and its translation into film.
Our Kung Fu Friday selection was Yuen Woo Ping's True Legend, the story of Beggar Su who, according to Chinese folklore, invented drunken boxing. It's a highly entertaining picture, though a flawed one. It has an odd structure, for one, with a climactic battle between Su (played by the excellent Vincent Zhao) and his venomous half-brother (Andy On with super-powers handed to him through the Dark Side of the Force) bringing the intrigue to a close with more than a half-hour to spare. The last act, in which Beggar Su creates the drunken style and defeats killer Western wrestlers seems tacked on by comparison. Yuen Woo Ping goes too heavy on the special effects (the cartoonish snakes and eagles are particularly dated) and dabbles in anachronism (the drunken style is rather close to break dancing here). However, the fights are entertaining and varied (and there are a LOT of them), Zhou Xun as Su's wife is beautiful, strong ans sensitive, and there are some fun cameos to look out for from kung fu superstars Gordon Liu, Michelle Yeoh and David Carradine (sadly, neither of them are involved in a fight). The DVD includes short featurettes one various topics that amount to a fair making of, a couple of storyboard-to-scene sequences, and a related music video.
Books: I just read Whedonistas!, a collection of women's essays and thematic sequel to Chicks Dig Time Lords. Instead of Doctor Who, the subject is Buffy, Firefly, Angel, Dr. Horrible and Dollhouse, more or less in that order of importance. Generally, I like the essays that analyze some aspect of the shows more than I do the personal recollections of how certain writers got into fandom (between this and the Who book, women really do seem to like slash fic a heck of a lot, don't they?). There are enough of both to keep the reader engaged, plus interviews with Buffy writer Jane Espenson and Drusilla's Juliet Landau. The writers are from diverse backgrounds (one of my favorite essays is from a minister, for example) and the multiple shows that could be tackled kept each essay pretty fresh. Well, except for the numerous instances of slash fic interest. Really, people. I won't ask WHY it's of import, because I feel like I read multiple essays on the subject, but I guess I'm too much of a guy in that respect.Hyperion to a Satyr posts this week:
III.i. The Nunnery Scene - Branagh '96
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