It’s no secret that we are die-hard Alfred Hitchcock fans (see here, here and here), but we’ve got a great reason for bringing him up again. Three of his early Hollywood-era thrillers are making their Blu-ray debuts on January 24: Rebecca (1940; Oscar-winner for Best Picture; Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, Judith Anderson), Spellbound (1945; Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck) Notorious (1946; with Ingrid Bergman, Cary Grant, Claude Rains). All three black-and-white films remain classics (of their genre, of Hitchcock, and of Hollywood). They’ll make perfect viewing for a gloomy winter weekend afternoon; we are envious of those of you who will experience these films, for the first time, in their full high-def glory.
As obsessed as the movie industry is with serving up refried 80′s cartoons these days (two GI Joes, three Transformers and innumerable exhumations of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), it’s truly outrageous that no one’s managed to resurrect “Jem and the Holograms” from the hot pink hereafter. The animated series (FINALLY available on DVD October 11) follows scrappy heiress Jerrica Benton in her attempts to wrest control of her late father’s record label from sleazy co-owner Eric Raymond. Luckily, her (clearly gay) dad left her an abandoned drive-in full of fabulous clothes and instruments and an “audio-visual entertainment synthesizer” named Synergy, who inexplicably wears aerobics gear and transforms Jerrica into pink-haired pop goddess Jem, beating Hannah Montana to the punch 20 years in advance. Jem fronts the titular girl group in an interminable Battle of the Bands with The Misfits, a trio of glam-rock bitches who are constantly trying to murder Jem and her friends. We’d tell you more, but words don’t do this glittery insanity justice: Synergy’s enigmatic holograms — as well as the crudely animated, relentlessly star-wiped music videos, the foster girls Jerrica cares for (don’t ask) who look like shrunken adults and the Fashion Plates outfits - need to be seen to be believed. [Read more...]
My Dog Tulip (on DVD August 2) breathes quirky life into the dog-eared man’s-best-friend genre (which the cloying Marley & Me nearly did in) with a wry, adult-oriented animated adaptation of J.R. Ackerley’s celebrated – and, in 1956, controversial, since Ackerley was openly gay – memoir about his late-life love affair with his Alsatian bitch, real name Queenie. Against a loose animation style that recalls The Triplets of Belleville softened with watercolors, an enchantingly dry resolutely British Christopher Plummer voices Ackerley’s peculiar and poetic honesty about the arrogance and indulgence shown to canine “children.” You see doggie destruction. You see anal glands milked. You hear lots of barking. You squirm at the wispy rhapsodizing of pride he shows when Tulip deems to mark her owner’s pee spot with hers. Yes, details only a dog lover could love – or understand. But the movie is a charming delight, whether you’re a furry fanatic or not. [Read more...]
Can you imagine a movie where Jackie Gleason takes an acid trip? Or one where Carol Channing strips out of a canary-yellow Rudi Gernreich gown to seduce Frankie Avalon? Or a film that features a cue-card-reading Groucho Marx as a mobster named “God”? Put all of this together – along with Harry Nilsson singing the closing credits – and you’ve just scratched the surface of crazy that is Otto Preminger’s 1969 Skidoo, making its DVD debut July 19. There’s nothing quite like a movie about the counterculture made by the culture that was being countered, but Preminger took a stab at trying to figure out the hippies and their body-painting, free-love ways in this frenetic comedy that’s so utterly clueless that it’s riveting viewing from start to finish. You might feel like you’re on a bad trip, but the bonkers-ness of this cult classic is nothing but groovy.
The trailer is at the jump, and the jaw-dropping title song, sung by Carol Channing, follows. [Read more...]
Legendary gay novelist Christopher Isherwood’s adventures in Berlin between the wars were already immortalized on stage and in film by Cabaret, but the BBC drama Christopher and His Kind (on DVD June 28) takes an equally captivating – if slightly less tuneful – look at the making of a writer. Christopher (Matt Smith) leaves his stultifying life in London to meet boys, and that he does, from his very first night. (This is a TV production, but it doesn’t skimp on the frontal nudity or man-on-man action.) Boasting a terrific cast – which also includes Toby Jones and Imogen Poots – and stunning period detail, this is a sexy period piece you’ll want to watch with an old chum. [Read more...]
It’s hard to imagine, but queer characters were all but invisible at the movies in 1991, which helped the fascinating but experimental and arty Poison become an arthouse hit on the heels of its Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. Zeitgeist Video commemorates the 20th anniversary of the groundbreaking Todd Haynes feature with a gorgeous new DVD release (out June 21) that includes a hi-def transfer; the original 1999 audio commentary recorded by Haynes and producer Christine Vachon with the film’s editor and star James Lyons (who passed away in 2007) along with an anniversary Q&A with Haynes and Vachon; polaroids shot on the set by longtime Haynes collaborator Kelly Reichardt, who went on to direct Meek’s Cutoff and Wendy and Lucy; and more. Two decades after it helped kick-start the New Queer Cinema movement, Poison remains as vital and unsettling as ever. [Read more...]
Who Took The Bomp? Le Tigre On Tour (on DVD June 7) seems to buck every convention established by “intimate access” rockumentaries. It features no inter-band bickering, no grainy footage of bandmates smacking up in crack dens or getting searched by the fuzz. It’s more like a video scrapbook, featuring everyone’s favorite feminist-electro-punk trio Le Tigre as they mug for the camera, indulge the press and sip Bud Lite while bobbing their heads to Cher’s “Dream Baby.” The footage was shot during what became Le Tigre’s final tour (the band’s still on indefinite hiatus), but On Tour isn’t the story of a band unraveling. Hearing JD Samson diss Mike Skinner (a.k.a Brit rapper The Streets) and watching the band persuade the agro-metal members of Slipknot to taking a group photo are not without charm; it’s a lot of fun to watch this group cut loose. [Read more...]
If someone you know thinks that all movie musicals are pretty much the same – or that they haven’t been any good since Julie Andrews hung up her wimple – introduce them to these three titles, all making their Blu-ray debuts June 7.Hair brings the hippie musical to vivid onscreen life with Treat Williams and Beverly D’Angelo leading a talented cast singing songs you might be surprised you know by heart. Martin Scorsese mixes Method acting and Hollywood glitz, to mediocre effect, in the big-band extravaganza New York, New York starring Liza Minnelli and Robert DeNiro (the film does have its virtues, though mainly for die-hard Liza fans) and, let’s face it, you haven’t lived until you’ve trooped across the Outback in high heels with the drag queens of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert in hi-definition and full stereo sound. [Read more...]
Not since Demi met Patrick has ghost lovin’ been so sexy. Miguel (Cristian Mercado) is a scruffy fisherman with a very pregnant wife. Santiago (Manolo Cardona) is his sexy secret lover. In the stunning Undertow (Contracorriente) (on DVD/Blu-ray May 31), on an arid, windswept Peruvian beach, Santiago accidentally drowns, coming back to where only Miguel can see him, cradle him, kiss him and hold his hand while watching telenovelas. What makes this in-the-closet specter stand out? Passionate, believable performances. Miguel’s anguish as he is torn between leaving his ex-lover in eternal unrest or freeing him by disclosing their secret to his wife (and village) is palpable. Before you know it, Undertow has pulled you under with the hope that love really can conquer all. [Read more...]
French director Henri-Georges Clouzot (The Wages of Fear) taught Alfred Hitchcock a thing or two about suspense with Diabolique, the 1955 thriller which still induces goosebumps more than five decades later. Vera Clouzot (the director’s wife) and the va-va-voomy Simone Signoret star as, respectively, the wife and mistress of a boarding-school headmaster who meets his end at the hands of the two vengeance-minded women. Or does he? This suspense classic is a deliciously labyrinthine journey. The Criterion Collection Blu-ray debut (out May 17), a typically stunning transfer, features an essay by film critic Terrence Rafferty along with commentary, interviews, and an introduction from some of the film’s many contemporary fans. [Read more...]
It’s odd that director Jonathan Demme is best known as the director of The Silence of the Lambs when his real specialty is unpredictably quirky, character-based comedies. One of his best is Something Wild, a 1986 road-trip flick about a button-down corporate type (Jeff Daniels) whose wild side gets called up by a kooky boho chick named Lulu (Melanie Griffith, in one of her best roles). Neither of them, of course, turns out to be what you expect — and neither does Lulu’s scary ex (Ray Liotta). The new Criterion Collection edition (out Tuesday), which marks the film’s Blu-ray debut, includes a gorgeous remastering and new interviews with Demme and screenwriter E. Max Frye. [Read more...]
Sometimes the best documentaries are the ones in which the filmmakers don’t know what the end results will be. Exit Through the Gift Shop (out Tuesday) started out as one obsessive, would-be director’s examination of the underground graffiti scene and wound up as a fascinating exploration of the contemporary art world, raising the question, “Who decides what is art and who’s an artist?” Not to mention the question, ”Is this whole thing a put-on?” which it might be.
What makes Exit so fun is its wildly unpredictable twists, all narrated by deadpan actor Rhys Ifans and legendary street artist Banksy (who keeps his features hidden and voice altered). Street art fan Thierry Guetta shot lots and lots of footage of many of the hottest taggers, even going so far as to aid and abet them in their late-night, guerilla painting of buildings, overpasses and blank billboards. But once Guetta and Banksy cross paths…well, you’ll just have to see for yourself. The result is a hilarious, provocative and riveting look at the creative process that’s like nothing you’ve seen before.
Exit Through The Gift Shop will be available December 14 from Oscilloscope Laboratories.
We’re as into The Kids Are All Right(on DVD/BD next Tuesday) now as we were when we first crowed about it last summer.
It’s rare to see gay parents on the big screen. It’s rarer still to see them played by two extraordinary, Oscar-nominated actresses. But the novelty/joy of seeing Annette Bening and Julianne Moore as the moms of two teenagers who are connecting with their no-longer-anonymous donor dad (Mark Ruffalo at his most delicious) falls away as soon as The Kids Are All Right begins. That’s when you’re sucked into the year’s smartest, funniest, sexiest and emotionally complicated film. What’s really amazing is Kids doesn’t glorify its characters as some impossibly perfect modern clan; like every other American family, they’re flawed and fascinating.
Years ago, we savored out lesbian director Lisa Cholodenko’s first two films, High Art and Laurel Canyon — indie treats that brought us into the Williamsburg, Brooklyn and Hollywood Hills’ respective worlds of drugs, drama and sexual chaos. We had no idea her third would be so evolved, or the wait for it so worth it.
Modern Tonic has copies of the DVD and Blu-ray for our readers; to enter to win, click here (and specify which format you’d prefer).
The Kids Are All Right will be available on DVD and Blu-ray November 16 from Universal Home Entertainment.
If we want to retire the phrase “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade,” we might consider replacing it with “When life gives you Troll 2, make Best Worst Movie“(out November 16). Michael Paul Stephenson was a child actor when he was cast in 1990′s Troll 2, a film so legendarily awful that he figured his career was pretty much over. How bad was Troll 2? Well, it was written and directed by Italians with a flimsy grasp of English, its special effects seem to have been created by kids at an arts-and-crafts summer camp and the movie’s big twist comes when someone realizes that the town of “Nilbog” is actually “Goblin” spelled backwards.
But Stephenson got the last laugh when Troll 2 became a popular cult film, leading him to direct this fascinating documentary about the movie’s fandom. The real star of Best Worst Movie is George Hardy, who gave up acting for dentistry but finds himself thrust into the spotlight when audiences nationwide start lining up for midnight screenings of Troll 2. From Hardy’s journey into cult fame to Troll 2 director Claudio Fragasso’s realization that people are laughing at his movie not with it, Best Worst Movie provides one wild surprise after another.
Best Worst Movie will be available November 16 from New Video.
Veterans of the LGBT film-festival circuit know there are certain kinds of movies they can expect every year — the angsty coming-out drama, the overripe lesbian romance, the sex farce played out among a bunch of shirtless guys…. But every so often, a film comes along that doesn’t fit the predetermined categories. The German import Light Gradient (Rückenwind), on DVD tomorrow, stands out for being unpredictable and unsettling.
Ostensibly the tale of adorable young lovers Johann (Sebastian Schlecht) and Robin (Eric Golub) making their way through the sun-dappled countryside on a road trip, the film tips its hand early on that it’s not going to follow the paths you might expect. To give away its many surprises would be criminal, so we’ll only say that the lead performances are exceedingly sexy and Bernadette Paaßen’s cinematography makes the sylvan landscapes both gorgeous and subtly threatening.
Light Gradient will be available tomorrow on DVD from Strand Releasing.
It’s no secret that we are die-hard Alfred Hitchcock fans (see here, here and here), but we’ve got a great reason for bringing him up again. Three of his early Hollywood-era thrillers are making their Blu-ray debuts on January 24: Rebecca (1940; Oscar-winner for Best Picture; Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, Judith Anderson), Spellbound (1945; Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck) Notorious (1946; with Ingrid Bergman, Cary Grant, Claude Rains). All three black-and-white films remain classics (of their genre, of Hitchcock, and of Hollywood). They’ll make perfect viewing for a gloomy winter weekend afternoon; we are envious of those of you who will experience these films, for the first time, in their full high-def glory.
