Hey folks, Harry here – sorry to be so late with this last week’s DVD column – I’m actually working on Tomorrow’s right now. Surgery hasn’t hurt – it just hasn’t been comfortable to sitting at a computer and typing – however – I feel great today and banged this out. As usual – all the images and titles are clickable to AMAZON where you can learn more on the title – or purchase it with a small portion going to support this column. Here ya go…

Tuesday, May 20th, 2008

NATIONAL TREASURE 2 – BOOK OF SECRETS

The NATIONAL TREASURE series is ridiculous gobbilygook nonsense that’s just fun – finely polished and sharp… but nonsensical. Cage plays his character like a puzzle savant. Would love to see him and Gollum riddle it out.

THE MUPPET SHOW – THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON

Ok – I love the Muppets – and in the 3rd Season my personal fave episode was when Roy Rogers and Dale Evans showed up. It’s just such a mash-up of iconic happiness that I go goofy just thinking about it. AB KING – look for the Stallone episode on this season – it’s wankable. The Raquel Welch/Ms Piggy duet of I AM WOMAN is worth buying this season for – God I miss this show!

SHORT CIRCUIT

I love Ally Sheedy. And there’s something about Ally Sheedy being directed by John Badham that I adore. Now – for those of you that just need to prove that WALL*E is a blatant ripoff of SHORT CIRCUIT – give it up – the basic look and feel of Johnny Five was around at least 5 years pre-SHORT CIRCUIT – just because that’s the direction that real robots have been in since development. SHORT CIRCUIT is like the happiest version of THE TERMINATOR ever. Nice to have this on BluRay.

V FOR VENDETTA

It is essentially the same disc as appeared on HD DVD – just on BLU RAY. Gorgeous transfer of a fucking awesome movie!

GEORGE A ROMERO’S DIARY OF THE DEAD

This one really seems to split folks – I loved it, but I think… just about all the other AICN writers hated it. And you would not believe the arguments we get into over it. Seriously. That said – I know a ton of folks that love it as well. So where would you line up? It took balls for Romero to create this completely separate Zombie universe from his original series. And I really really like it quite a bit.

JAMES STEWART – THE WESTERN COLLECTION ( DESTRY RIDES AGAIN / WINCHESTER 73 / BEND OF THE RIVER / THE FAR COUNTRY / NIGHT PASSAGE / THE RARE BREED )

This is a barebones collection of 6 of the very good Jimmy Stewart westerns… albeit missing the great NAKED SPUR and THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE. That said – these are out standing films. DESTRY RIDES AGAIN you should see, not so much for Stewart – who is great in it, but for Marlene Dietrich. She’s astonishing – and if you ever wanted to see where Madeline Kahn got her character from BLAZZING SADDLES – its here. WINCHESTER 73 is the first of the MANN/STEWART series – which was just a brilliant collaboration. And you can watch this easily as a triple feature with FAR COUNTRY and BEND IN THE RIVER – to just see a very complicated and risk-taking series of turns by Jimmy. I’m not a huge fan of the other two films though – they’re not awful, just not as great as these other titles.

WHAT DID YOU DO IN THE WAR, DADDY?

Blake Edwards’ crazed WWII comedy with James Coburn. You owe it to yourself to check this out!

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD

In my opinion – the very best Zombie movie ever made. And George Romero’s best work. This film feels authentic. The stark photography feels real – and the reactions by the characters – genuine. I literally just got finished watching M Night’s SIGNS – which I love – but it is very much like a sheltered version of this movie. Scared to ever really go for it like NIGHT did. WHY is this my favorite? Simply – the tone. The idea of going out to a cemetery to speak your mind to a family member – then suddenly… in the middle of nowhere to be attacked… your brother killed… alone in a farmhouse – which becomes an oasis of living tissue in a sea of famished undead. It’s awesome. Absolutely everybit as riveting today as the day it was released – and a text book example of how gore effects, digital effects… none of that is needed to convey terror, atmosphere and the stuff of nightmares. This is a solid edition – I just wish it was BluRay.

MAN IN THE WILDERNESS / THE DEADLY TRACKERS

If you see THE DEADLY TRACKERS – it’s like a prequel to UNFORGIVEN for the Richard Harris character (though not really – I just like to think that way while watching it – in story its more of a revenge tale)– and I love it as such. Besides – it’s a film with Harris and Rod Taylor (who was the badass of badasses). Then MAN IN THE WILDERNESS is an experience. I always thought of it as a sequel to A MAN CALLED HORSE – but officially it wasn’t. It’s a brutal survival film about Trappers gone bad. Seriously – and it kicks ass.

THE NIGHT THEY RAIDED MINSKY’S

A burlesque comedy from the director of THE EXORCIST and THE FRENCH CONNECTION and SORCEROR… I’m serious. And ya know what? It’s a classic. You should see this, just to lust after Britt Ekland as an Amish Stripper! She’s yummilicious. Only regret on this DVD is that they got rid of the Frazetta poster art that was done for this movie. For shame.

THE RICHIE RICH / SCOOBY DOO HOUR: The Complete Series

I loved watching this power hour when I was a boy. I seriously wanted RICHIE RICH’s riches. I just couldn’t stop thinking of how many Stormtroopers I could buy. These were definitely two great tastes that taste great together. You only get 7 episodes in this set though – which totales up about 6 and a half hours of animated happy times.

BOHACHI BUSHIDO: CODE OF THE FORGOTTEN EIGHT

Absolutely kinky sadistic joyful bliss. Seriously. Oh my god! Based on the Manga by the creator of Hanzo the Razor – a deranged genius named Kazuo Koike – and directed by Ishii, who made the brilliant BLIND WOMEN’S CURSE – you have a film that is so incredibly twisted and hot that only a cement block tied to your cock will keep it from rising. Holy shit. I LOVED THIS SICK GLORIOUS WONDER!

FINISHING THE GAME

By far – Justin Lin’s best film. It’s about the struggle to recast Bruce Lee after his untimely death while shooting GAME OF DEATH. The film is hilarious – and if you love Bruce Lee – it’s nice to have a story that reminds us… exactly how he can never truly be replaced – while making us laugh our asses off.

GRAPES OF DEATH

If you love zombie films – and you’ve never seen this film – see it. Years ago – I bought a European Region copy of this on a recommendation of a friend – and I laughed at him. GRAPES of death… really? Grapes? It was just the most ludicrous title for a scary movie that I’d ever heard. Of course… it is French – so I dismissed the title as being… artsy. The resulting film shocked me. It is extremely gory – but artful all at once. Can’t imagine what it was like to see this in 1978. It is still absolutely riveting. This is a rare treat for those of you that love hardcore horror films. That’s a promise.

Sorry for the lateness – I’m instantly working on this Tuesday’s releases – including: All 4 RAMBO films in BLU RAY, 3 STOOGES Collection, THE INVADERS, THE THIEF OF BAGDAD – Criterion Collection, HE-MAN Volume 2, DARFUR NOW, DRAGON TIGER GATE, COME DRINK WITH ME and much more… Oh – and if you’re a Facebook geek – I created this Geek Holy Grails application – if you like it and have ideas for other Geek Holy Grails – feel free to mention them in the talk back below. Specifically – I’m thinking Cinematically.