Micah's August 2005 DVD Picks
1. The Cosby Show: Season 1 2. Saturday Morning With Sid & Marty Krofft 3. Kung Fu Hustle 4. The Muppet Show: Season 1 5. Thundercats Season 1, Volume 1 6. Sin City 7. Audition (Uncut Special Edition) 8. Brentwood 12 Packs (Blood Soaked Cinema) 9. Layer Cake 10. Oldboy 11. Chrystal 12. College Girl Murders 13. Kontroll 14. Ong Bak: The Thai Warrior 15. Street Trash 16. Thriller: They Call Her One Eye (Vengeance Edition) 17. Tommy Boy: Holy Schnike EditionHey all, Micah here with my DVD new release picks for the month of August. This is one of the best months in the world of DVD I've seen in a long time. There are some truly outstanding movies being released in the next 30 days. How good can it be you ask? Would you believe me if I told you that Ong Bak barely made my Top 3? It's true. Read on and get ready to cry for your wallet.
The Cosby Show: Season 1
Release Date: 8/2/05
This is one of the first shows that I remember being a true family event at my house. No matter what else was going on, Thursday nights the family all got together and watched the latest exploits of Cliff, Claire, Sandra, Denise, Theo, Vanessa & Rudy. In later years we moved on to other great shows like Quantum Leap or Home Improvement, but looking back on it, I don't know that any other show ever truly entertained my whole family the way The Cosby Show did. Some say this was the last great family sitcom, and I can't say they're wrong. It is definately credited as saving NBC and launching Thursday night as 'Must See TV.' This show is continually in reruns, but that's no excuse not to pick up this great series for your home collection.. Now if we could just get Wonder Years released on DVD...Saturday Morning With Sid & Marty Krofft
Release Date: 8/2/05
When you watch this disc you'll realize how great 'kids' TV used to be, and how far it's dropped. You might think that shows for kids have always been about selling toys. Current hits like Pokemon or Tamagatchi don't even hide their message to 'Get them All', but even beloved 80's cartoons like He-Man, Transformers and GI Joe were thinly veiled action figure commercials. But I'm here to tell you it wasn't always that way. Sid & Marty Krofft made some of the weirdest, most out there shows you've ever seen. Kids loved 'em because they weren't talked down to, and adults loved 'em because they played like Sesame Street on LSD. This set contains the pilot episodes from 7 series: H.R. Pufnstuf, The Bugaloos, Lidsville, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, Land of the Lost, The Lost Saucer, & Far Out Space Nuts. Perfect for kids and stoners of all ages.Kung Fu Hustle
Release Date: 8/9/05
Kung Fu Hustle, the latest movie from Director/Actor Stephen Chow, is one of the most original comedies I've seen in years. In it, Chow plays a would-be gangster who gets in a crapload of trouble when he impersonates a member of the notorious Axe Gang. The movie is basically a giant back and forth battle between Chow & his fat buddy, the Axe Gang, and the unusual residents of Pig Sty Alley. The movie doesn't have a traditional set of heroes and villains, so and each time I watch this movie I'm drawn to a different character. The fight scenes are like nothing you've ever seen before, and the oddball characters are hilarious. The movie is part Three Stooges and part Matrix. If you one of those people who just can't be bothered with subtitles, don't worry, because (a) I'm sure there will be a dubbed option, and (b) the minimal dialog is secondary to the great physical comedy. Don't miss this movie.The Muppet Show: Season 1
Release Date: 8/9/05
OK, while The Cosby Show was an important show for my family, The Muppet Show was perhaps the defining TV series of my life. It is certainly the first show I vividly remember being devoted too. My parents would tape each week's episode and I'd watch it literally dozens of times before the week was over. In fact, my parents still own a BETA video player and a stack of old Muppet tapes. Growing up my walls were covered with Muppet memorbilia. I even took up drumming in high school and college because Animal made it so cool. Yes, the Muppet Show may just be the best thing ever on TV. While Time Life has been putting out selected episodes of the Muppet Show for years now, a complete release has been sorely missing. But at long last, the wait is over. At just over a dollar per episode, this set would be worth the asking price with no extras at all. However, the kind folks behind this set have thrown in the original Pilot Episode (entitled Sex & Violence!), the pitch reel that Jim Henson used to sell the show, Muppet Morsels & a Gag Reel. Plus, all 24 episodes (starring celebs like Florence Henderson, Harvey Korman, the Mummenschanz, Jim Nabors...) have been digitally restored and remastered. I can't tell you how psyched I am about this release. It is far and away my #1 pick of the month (hell... it'll probably be my #1 pick of the year).Thundercats: Season 1, Volume 1
Release Date: 8/9/05
Speaking of childhood classics, I've always had a soft spot for Thundercats. In fact, I always preferred Thundercats, MASK & The Super Friends to standbys like He-Man or Transformers. Not sure about the extras on this one, but you get 12+ hours of Lion-O, Panthro, Cheetara, Tygra, WilyKat, WilyKit and Snarf (and Mumm-ra), which is enough feline humanoid goodness for anyone.Sin City
Release Date: 8/16/05
Sin City is one of my favorite movies of 2005 so far. My review of why I loved this movie still stands, so I'll basically leave it at that. Although I can't get past the fact that a movie this great is only #4 or #5 on my list of movies to get this month. Again, I just want to stress how awesome the DVD selection is this month. Moving on.Audition (Uncut Special Edition)
Release Date: 8/23/05
This is one of Asian powerhouse Takashi Miike's better known movies, and for good reason. Unlike a lot of his other movies, this one takes a fairly traditional narrative approach, but without sacrificing the visually beautiful style he's known for. Throw in the fact that this movie is scary as hell & has one of the best gross-out scenes of all time and you've got yourself a damn fine movie. Definately a movie worth checking out, just don't watch it around anyone who might be a little sqeamish.Brentwood Packs - Blood Soaked Cinema
Release Date: 8/23/05
I thought I'd throw these movies in together as a you-pick-em. Value DVD studio Brentwood is offering several themed 12-packs of new and old exploitation movies. In sets like these you're usually guaranteed a few public domain standby's that you've already got 3 copies of, a couple of direct-to-video turds that even I wouldn't watch, and, if you're lucky, a couple of gems that are enough to justify the purchase price. Part of the fun is figuring out which is which, so I should probably leave you to peruse to see what genre strikes your fancy. However, if you absolutely must have Uncle Micah's help, I'm leaning towards the Back From the Grave collection. Slave of the Cannibal God & I Eat Your Skin are genre classics, and The Undertaker & His Pals is a hilarious (but all too short) 70's masterpiece that involves a sexually ambiguous undertaker and his unnatural agreement with the proprietor of the local coffee shop. If you've never seen it, you don't know what you're missing.Layer Cake
Release Date: 8/23/05
Layer Cake is a great British gangster flick that will draw inevitable comparisons to Snatch and Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels. (It should come as no suprise that the director of Layer Cake was the producer of those movies). However, Layer Cake is much more than a simple rip-off. It's got style, a mind-twisting plot, a kickass soundtrack, and a killer cast. Ultimately I think Snatch is a better movie, but luckily there's no law against owning them both. If you've never seen this movie and at all enjoyed either of the two Guy Ritchie movies I mentioned, you owe it to yourself to watch it.Oldboy
Release Date: 8/23/05
Oldboy is my #1 feature film pick for this month, this year, this decade. I simply cannot stress to you how good this movie is. The plot is deviously simple: a man named Oh Dae-su is locked in a tiny room, seemingly without reason, for 15 years, then let go, and given 5 days to discover who imprisoned him, and why. From this simple premise comes one of the most interesting, breathtaking, violent movies I've ever seen. Min-sik Choi gives a stunningly nuanced performance as Oh Dae-su, and Chan-wook Park provides absolutely perfect direction. This movie came out in South Korea in 2003, and has been sweeping the globe ever since. If, by chance, this is the first you've heard of this movie, I BEG YOU don't talk to anyone about it, don't read any reviews of it, just go and buy (or rent) it, and thank me for the ass-kicking your just received. YOU MUST SEE THIS MOVIE!Chrystal
Release Date: 8/30/05
For reasons that are not apparent to me, this movie never got a proper theatrical release. This, despite the fact that it stars Billy Bob Thornton in a role in which he's every bit as good as he was in Sling Blade (although not as good as he was in Bad Santa). The movie was directed by (and also stars) Ray McKinnon, who most viewers will recognize as the ill-fated preacher from Season 1 of Deadwood. Thornton plays Joe, a simple man from the Ozarks who's stoned driving lead to the death of his young child, and the partial paralysis of his wife Chrystal (Lisa Blount). The movie picks up just a Joe is getting out of jail and attempting to return home, a prospect that is anything but easy. McKinnon gives an outstanding over-the-top performance as local drug bigshot Snake. He also directs his real-life wife Blount in some incredibly intimate and humiliating scenes. The cast is rounded out by vetran Harry Dean Stanton and promising new-comer Colin Fickes. This movie stuck with me long after I watched it, and I'm interested in seeing whether it holds up to repeat viewings.College Girl Murders
Release Date: 8/30/05
This is my top exploitation pick of the month. College Girl Murders is a trippy 60's German serial killer movie. It's got cool sets, elaborate kill scenes, gorgeous German chicks, and a whole lot more. Great release if you're into this kinda thing. And if you aren't, you really should be.Kontroll
Release Date: 8/30/05
This is a really cool little foreign film that won a bunch of awards on the film festival circuit that deserves a much wider audience than it's going to get. The movie revolves around the life of government-employed ticket-takers in an underground transit system. These guys are responsible for riding the various subway cars and making sure that the passengers have purchased tickets. Trouble is, these guys have no enforcement powers, leaving them subject to ridicule, harrassment, and humiliation. Basically its a crappy job that only attracts those too dumb or too lazy to do anything else. Within this subset of social outcasts, there are a small band of ticket-takers so pitiful that even other ticket-takers want nothing to do with them. It is on this group and their mysterious leader that the film focuses. The entire movie takes place underground, which gives a real sense of claustraphobia to the whole movie. Kontroll is a slow-paced movie, but offers plenty of rewards to those willing to stick it out. Come on, be adventurous... you'll like it.Ong Bak: The Thai Warrior
Release Date: 8/30/05
This movie holds a special place in the hearts of myself and my esteemed DumbDistraction colleagues. Thus, it's with great pain that I can't place it as my top pick of the month. However, in any other month, this movie would have blown away all competition. If you don't know, Ong Bak is the story of a naive young man (Tony Jaa) who is sent on a quest to the big city to recover a sacred idol that a corrupt businessman stole from his village. However, this movie is really about one thing, and one thing only: Sick Bone-crunching Death-Defying Action. This is Tony Jaa's first movie, and he's already been compared (rightfully) to Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. In the same way that each of those fighters took a form of martial arts and totally made it their own, Jaa does things in this movie that I've never seen any martial artist do before. Ever. If we're lucky, future Jaa movies will kick equal amounts of ass. If we're not, at least we'll always have Ong Bak. This DVD contains several extras, including Jaa's unbelievable appearance at the halftime of a Mavericks game in which he kicked a basketball off the head of a man who was standing on the shoulders of another man. Sick.Street Trash
Release Date: 8/30/05
Street Trash is an utterly enjoyable way to spend 90 minutes. It's plot (so to speak) deals with a newly discovered cache of old liquor. Somehow the liquor ends up in the hands of the city's extensive wino population. Lucky them, right? Actually no. The liquor's gone bad, and it's effects on those who imbibe... we'll it's not pretty. Street Trash features some pretty awesome goreFX, and also has what I believe is cinema's only depiction of 'Keep Away' being played with some poor guy's johnson. You sold yet?Thriller: They Call Her One Eye (Vengeance Edition)
Release Date: 8/30/05
Thriller (AKA They Call Her One Eye), is often touted as being one of Tarantino's favorite exploitation movies of all time. I don't know whether that's true, but I wouldn't be suprised if it is, because this movie is amazing. After a young girl (Christina Lindberg) is raped, she's so traumatized that she loses the ability to speak. Years later she is tricked/forced into prostitution by a mysterious stranger. When she dares to rebel, he stabs her eye out out in a scene so realistic it still makes me wince. She dons an eyepatch and bides her time, secretly learning to fight and handle a sawed-off shotgun. Finally, she's ready to get her revenge on the pimp and the good-for-nothing johns who abused and mistreated her. Thriller is truly a brutally shocking movie. When it first came out, it spliced in scenes from actual hardcore pornos to depict the rape and prostitution scenes. The version that comes out this month (the Vengeance Edition) has those scenes removed, so if you're the kind of person who doesn't want to see sex, but at the same time doesn't mind watching a whore get her eye poked out, this is the edition for you. Of course, if you're a true sicko, there's a limited edition uncut version that's been available for a while.Tommy Boy: Holy Schnike Edition
Release Date: 8/30/05
Tommy Boy is a classic in my circles, and has been sorely lacking in a proper DVD release. Luckily, Paramount has finally decided to grace us with a special edition (the aptly named 'Holy Schnike Edition'). It's loaded with director commentary,4 Featurettes, 6 Deleted Scenes, 6 Alternate Takes, 7 Storyboard Comparisons, 15 Extended Scenes, Gag Reel, a Theatrical Trailer, & 19 TV Spots. That's a lot of extras. Chris Farley was a comic genius, and while he unfortunately wasn't around enough to leave us with many movies, this one is hilarious. By the way, if you're interested in this, you'll probably also want to check out the special editions of Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore that are coming out this month.Well, that's it for August. If you have any money left, go watch Batman Begins again or something. Or save it for September. I'm sure there will be a more crap you just can't live without. Remember, before the end of the month, you must watch Oldboy. Seriously. Don't come back until you've seen it. For Real.
- Micah
