Micah's July 2005 DVD Picks
1. Dear Frankie 2. Shogun's Shadow: The Sonny Chiba Collection 3. Point Blank 4. Undeclared - The Complete Series 5. Comedy Legend: Buster Keaton 6. Bruce Le's Greatest Revenge & Bruce Li in New Guinea 7. Bill & Ted's Most Excellent Collection 8. JSA: Joint Security Area 9. Million Dollar Baby 10. Soggy Bottom USA 11. Nowhere Man 12. The Jerk: 26th Anniversary EditionHey all, Micah here with my DVD picks for the month of July. This month you've got comedy classics, Korean dramas, overlooked TV shows, Oscar winners, and more, so let's get started, shall we?
Dear Frankie
Release Date: 7/5/05
Frankie is a deaf 9 year old who thinks his father, who he has never seen, is a sailor on a ship called the Accra. Frankie receives letters that he thinks come from his dad, but in fact come from his mother, who is attempting to keep her son from discovering they are on the run from the abusive man. When the Accra unexpectedly docks in their down, Frankie's mom must hire someone to pretend to be Frankie's dad for the day. Don't be scared by the chick-flick sounding plot... top-notch performances by both Frankie (Jack McElhone) and the father stand-in (Gerard Butler) make this movie one definately worth watching.Shogun's Shadow: The Sonny Chiba Collection
Release Date: 7/5/05
Shogun's Shadow is another great Sonny Chiba movie that's deserved a DVD release for a while. We can finally throw out our bootlegs and imports thanks to Ventura. The DVD comes in widescreen with English dubs & some trailers. If you have never seen a Sonny Chiba movie, this is a good one to start with. Chiba was actually a good actor, so if you want super cheesy kung-fu, you should probably look elsewhere. However, if you want some kickass samurai action, this is the movie for you.Point Blank
Release Date: 7/5/05
When Lee Marvin's associates in crime double-cross him and leave him for dead, the stage is set for sweet, sweet revenge. And Marvin isn't one to dissapoint. Point Blank is a bloody, violent revenge flick. Marvin is in full on take-no-prisoners mode, which is when he's at his best. The DVD contains commentary by director John Boorman, who also directed the classic Deliverance. Grab some buddies, kick the ladies out of the house, and get ready to see how a man takes care of business.Undeclared: The Complete Series
Release Date: 7/5/05
Undeclared and Andy Richter Controls the Universe are two series that were undeservedly cancelled by Fox. We're still waiting on ARCtU on DVD, but at least we've got Undeclared to tide us over. This DVD set contains all 18 episodes of this great comedy about college Freshman life. You've also got bloopers, deleted scenes, commentaries, auditions, rehersals... lots of great stuff that I can't wait to check out. If you've never seen Undeclared, it has a solid ensemble cast and truly funny writing. (One of my favorite scenes has a nerdy freshman guy rejecting the advances of a decent looking chick because she refuses to recognize how great Will Ferrell's GWB is.) This series comes from the same producer who brought us the equally great and equally ill-fated Freaks & Geeks... poor guy can't catch a break.Comedy Legend: Buster Keaton
Release Date: 7/12/05
I'm guessing a lot of people out there have heard of Buster Keaton, but have never seen anything with him in it. If that describes you, you've just lost your last excuse to not check him out. This 5 Disc set spans Keaton's entire career, from his Vaudeville days to his silent films to his excursion into Talkies. Keaton was an absolutely incredible comedic talent, known for his expressionless face and great physical comedy. This set includes one of the greatest comedies of all time, The General, where Keaton plays a Confederate soldier who has to rescue his train and his girlfriend. It features some incredible stunts (all performed by Keaton) that are made even more unbelievable when you realize how close to death he actually got. Now get this... the entire set is under $23! The General alone would be worth that price... I don't know how or why this set is so cheap, but you've got to check it out.Bruce Le's Greatest Revenge & Bruce Li in New Guinea
Release Date: 7/12/05
I'm lumping these two together, because I don't know much about either of them, but they're cheap, and look pretty cool. They both are products of the massive Brucesploitation genre that arose after Bruce Lee died. My favorite Lee clone was Bruce Lea, but these two guys are pretty good too. Bruce Le's Greatest Revenge co-stars Bolo Yeung & Bruce Li in New Guinea has a bad guy called King of the Snake Cult. Enough for me too check 'em out.Bill & Ted's Most Excellent Collection
Release Date: 7/12/05
Excellent! Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure is a recognized classic for my generation, and Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, while not holding up to the original, has some pretty funny movies. (My friends and I still use STATION! in casual conversation from time to time.) Even if you already own these movies, it might be worth upgrading, because these discs are loaded with extras, including a Most Triumphant Making-Of Documentary, Air Guitar Tutorial, Bill and Ted's Excellent Comic Book, an episode of the animated series, and, the bonus I'm most looking forward to... 'The Original Bill & Ted: In Conversation with Chris & Ed.' Whoa... Bill & Ted were based on actual dudes? I've gotta check that out.JSA: Joint Security Area
Release Date: 7/12/05
Joint Security Area was one of the first movies by Korean director Chan-wook Park, the genius who brought us Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance & Oldboy. It deals with a cover-up and a military conflict between North and South Korea. It is a truly genius movie that has to be seen to be fully appreciated. While ultimately not as strong as Oldboy, JSA is exponentially better than most anything coming out of America.Million Dollar Baby
Release Date: 7/12/05
I'm sure you've heard enough about this movie, but I'll throw in my two cents real quick. I was surprised how much I liked Million Dollar Baby, because the trailers (I thought) didn't look very interesting. Luckily I went to see it, and I'm glad I did. It had a great cast, some cool fights, and an engrossing plot. A lot of snobby film critics complained that Eastwood, Swank & Freeman all played version of characters they had played in other movies. That may be true, but I've always thought it was a pretty dumb reason to criticize something. Let's face it, those three have personas that we expect them to portray. Would you really want to see a movie where Eastwood was a ballet dancer, Swank was a wimpy beauty pageant contestant, & Freeman was a young white guy who doesn't give advice (I know that last one didn't make sense, but I'm having trouble thinking what the opposite of Freeman would be)? No, that movie would suck. Million Dollar Baby doesn't.Soggy Bottom USA
Release Date: 7/12/05
Here's another movie I've never seen, but I'm excited about getting. I'm a sucker for Hicksploitation comedies, and this one looks to be a zany Prohibition-era comedy... it says so right on the box! Although Don 'Miami Vice' Johnson gets top billing, the real reason to get this movie is the king of Hicksploitation, Dub Taylor. Throw in Jack Elam & Ben Johnson and you get pretty close to a movie that can't miss.Nowhere Man
Release Date: 7/19/05
Ok... this in another movie that I know nothing about other than the blurb on the box. I'll present the blurb here, and let you decide whether this is a movie you want to see: "A potent brew of suspense and black humor, McCann's unique film noir is the story of one man's search for his missing penis, severed and stolen by his jilted fiancée after her pornographic past comes to light." Stop, you had me at severed penis.The Jerk: 26th Anniversary Edition
Release Date: 7/26/05
I'm sure most of you already own this movie, but, like the Stripes re-release last month, the powers that be have decided to throw in a couple of extras and hope you'll shell out for another copy. Unfortunately all they've added are "Learn How to Play Tonight You Belong to Me" and "The Lost Filmstrips of Father Carlos Las Vegas de Cordova". Those both sound cool, but I'm not sure whether they're enough to warrant a rebuy. In fact, the more I think about it, the less I think I like this special edition. 2 featurettes?!? That's all we get?!?!? Where's the Steve Martin commentary? Where are the deleted scenes? Where is the Christopher Walken screen test (ok, I made that one up). If my computer had a delete button I'd take this off my recommendation list, but since it doesn't, I'll have to leave it on here. Stupid broken delete button.That’s it for July… see you back for August, when a little movie called Ong-Bak heads our way!
- Micah
