While others will be running out this week to rent ALICE IN WONDERLAND or WOLFMAN, I’d stick with classic releases instead. A lot of Clint Eastwood profiled this week and an underrated Spielberg film.
Pick of the Week
The Man with No Name Trilogy
Sergio Leone massively influential trilogy of Westerns is now available in this Blu-ray set. In actuality my pick of the week is THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY, because it's the only one I've seen. I have no excuse so I'm not giving one. Eastwood and co-stars Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach shine as the good, the bad and the ugly, respectively. And it’s key to note that the good means skilled not holy. The trio is looking for $200,000 worth of gold buried in a grave at a cemetery. Eastwood’s Blondie knows the name on the grave and Wallach’s Tuco knows the cemetery. Van Cleef’s Sentenza is looking for them. This iconic Western is a visual treat where Leone likes playing with our expectations.
A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS was the first in the series and follows a YOJIMBO-like plot where Eastwood plays a gunfighter who pits two families against each other. FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE came the following year and tells the tale of two bounty hunters with different agendas teaming up to hunt down a Western outlaw. Film co-stars Lee Van Cleef as well.
Buy The Man With No Name Trilogy on Blu-ray!
Queue Qualified
War of the Worlds
Steven Spielberg's adaptation of H.G. Wells' sci-fi classic has more going on than simply a story of surviving an alien invasion. The film works as a metaphor for 9/11 and the fears that followed. Tom Cruise, Justin Chatwin, Dakota Fanning and Tim Robbins all give compelling performances as ordinary people in an extraordinary situation. Spielberg's skills as a filmic craftsman are unmatched filling the production with striking imagery. The sequence where the aliens search the basement is a textbook example of pacing. Truly underrated.
Buy "War of the Worlds" on Blu-ray Here!
Buzzed About
Absolute Power
If the Man with No Name trilogy doesn't meet you Clint Eastwood quota for the week, there is also his 1997 political thriller. Gene Hackman plays a President of the United States who literally thinks he can get away with murder. Eastwood plays a master thief who witnesses the Commander in Chief beating a mistress who tries to defend herself and is gunned down by Secret Service agents. Cast includes Laura Linney, Ed Harris, E.G. Marshall, Dennis Haysbert, Scott Glenn and Judy Davis. Any Eastwood film is worth checking out.
Buy "Absolute Power" on Blu-ray Here!
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
