Another busy week for Blu-ray this week. Criterion has Terry Zwigoff’s docs. Great library titles come to Blu-ray for the first time. A duo of 2010 releases makes the Buzzed About list.
Pick of the Week
Crumb
In my original review of this 1995 doc, I called it a collection of bests. One of the best docs, portraits of an artist, tale of an eccentric family, and examination of sexual hang-ups. Robert Crumb might be viewed as an odd bird when simply looking at his sometimes sexually perverse art, but wait until you meet his brothers. I love the film’s honesty and humor and heart. This is one of the very best films of the 1990s.
Queue Qualified
In the Shadow of the Moon
This 2007 documentary chronicles the Apollo space missions via the first hand recollections of the men who flew to the moon. Director David Sington and his crew had access to hours of NASA footage that had never been seen before. The material was remastered into HD and truly makes watching the moon mission with a new perspective. Can’t wait to see this one in HD the way it was meant to be seen.
Buy "In the Shadow of the Moon" on Blu-ray Here!
National Lampoon's Vacation
The National Lampoon film franchise has degraded itself into crassness, but it started out with a bang. VACATION from director Harold Ramis is a truly hilarious and often cutting satire of the American family vacation. Before he was transformed into a complete letch, Chevy Chase’s Clark Griswold was an over-achieving father who just wanted to take his wife and two kids to Wally World. The crazed ending is an inspired dose of lunacy, having boiled to the explosion point the entire film. The lesser entries in the VACATION series have diminished just how good the original was.
Buy "National Lampoon's Vacation" on Blu-ray Here!
What's Up, Doc?
Peter Bogdanovich set out to make an homage to 1930s screwball comedies and actually made one that stands with the best of the era. Ryan O’Neal, Barbara Streisand and Madeline Kahn star. Streisand has rarely been better or more humble. O’Neal winds up at the end of her craziness and Kahn as his fiancée is hilarious as always. Bogdanovich shows amazing comedic timing and there is a ton of silliness surrounding four identical plaid bags.
Buy "What's Up, Doc?" on Blu-ray Here!
Buzzed About
Date Night
This comedy had me at “starring Steve Carell and Tina Fey.” The flick puts an average suburban couple in an AFTER HOURS-like crazy night. Mistaken identity and hilarity ensues. Co-stars include Mark Wahlberg (always good in comedies), Taraji P. Henson, William Fichtner, Kristen Wiig, Mark Ruffalo, James Franco and Mila Kunis. The reviews were relatively positive. But for the most part I’m watching this one for Carell and Fey.
Buy "Date Night" on Blu-ray Here!
Death at a Funeral
I had no interested in this film when it first arrived in theaters. It’s an American remake of Frank Oz’s 2007 British comedy. The remake stars Martin Lawrence, Chris Rock, Zoe Saldana, Tracy Morgan, Luke Wilson, James Marsden, Danny Glover and Keith David. Peter Dinklage actually reprises his role from the original. Family secrets explode at the funeral of a patriarch. The reviews were not stellar at all, but Roger Ebert’s review convinced me to give it a chance. Plus, I have to say Neil LaBute behind the camera makes me curious. Many other critics didn’t like LaBute’s thriller LAKEVIEW TERRACE, but I found it a savvy critique of race relations.
Buy "Death at a Funeral" on DVD Here!
Buy "Death at a Funeral" on Blu-ray Here!
Louie Bluie
Terry Zwigoff kicked off his film career with a topic he knew – the blues. The doc follows Howard "Louie Bluie" Armstrong, a not-well-known blues musician and artist. His career started in the 1930s, but after WWII he ended up working in the auto industry until a blues revival in the 1970s brought him back into the spotlight. If LOUIE BLUIE is half as good as CRUMB than it’s a must see too.
Buy "Louie Bluie" on DVD Here!
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
