Tuesday, March 23, 2010

DVDs: Fantastic Blind Red Cliffs for Mad Men

A fresh batch of DVDs. Which will you eagerly consume?

  • The Blind Side will have huge DVD sales. I'm *cough* blind to this movie's appeal but millions love what they see and will continue to. If it weren't based on a true story, you KNOW that they would already be adapting this into a television series for some young C Lister to try and survive, risking comparisons to a movie star. Kinda like when Sandra Bullock herself got the Melanie Griffith sloppy seconds for television's Working Girl. Who knew then that Bullock's fame would so eclipse Griffith's?
  • Brothers has arrived for those of you curious about Tobey Maguire's Golden Globe nomination. Do you think he came in the dread sixth place for an Oscar nomination this year? Whoever was sixth was a distant sixth given events on the road to Oscar night, but someone was sixth!
  • Fantastic Mr Fox is probably going to be even better on DVD. I'm sensing "highly rewatchable". You know what scene makes me howl with laughter each time I'm reminded of it? "Whackbat"
  • Red Cliff is basically a porn movie to me given that it stars Chen Chang, Takeshi Kaneshiro and Tony Leung Chiu Wai... so I, uh, probably shouldn't watch it at home. But, that said, I might because in DVD form you can see all 4 hours. I liked the movie in theaters (big action scenes, colorful costumes, and fun war strategy sequences) but it felt suspiciously like a miniseries that had been repackaged for movie length... which, in fact, it had.
  • Seraphine. Yolande Moreau stars is the painter in this biopic. She won the French Oscar as well as the recent LAFCA Best Actress prize. For those who are impatient it's available on instant play at Netflix.
  • The Twilight Saga: New Moon ...no comment.
Which DVD would you like Nathaniel to type at'chu about right here? A simple review, tossed off thoughts or even a liveblog. Who knows? Vote.



Mad Men Season Three is also available. I own all three seasons and the packaging is so choice. A scotch neat this time (last season it was a dress shirt in its package). I can't wait to watch it again but first I have to rescreen Season 2 for "Mad Men at the Movies", my series on the film references therein. It'll be a good summer Sunday diversion right here at TFE while we wait for Season 4 to begin. If you've never watched the show you still have a few months to get caught up. It's pretty hard to resist once you've succumbed to its spell. If you haven't yet seen Season Three, you should also rent Bye Bye Birdie (1963) for kicks. It factors in more heavily than just about any film ever has on the show.
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22 comments:

Luke said...

Possibly the most unique awesomeness of the Mad Men DVDs? The fact that the advertisement insert is also genius - I definitely kept the Clorox ad with the lipstick-stained shirt from the second season DVD.

Lev Lewis said...

Just to be totally cruel I chose "New Moon". Your thoughts should provide copious amounts of laughs.

Unknown said...

I voted for you to watch The Twilight Saga: New Moon because I'm interested to see you trash that film. I had tons of fun trashing that movie on my blog haha ;)

James T said...

You're an actressexual. Seraphine, of course!!

NoNo said...

I voted for Twilight too. It's so much more fun to trash popular movies especially when it's a cultural phenomenon. It wouldn't be fun to trash Did You Hear About The Morgans? or something.

Ann McD said...

Vote New Moon, so funny! Please review it regardless. If you approach it as a comedy, it's actually decent and way better than Twilight.

Deborah said...

My Mad Men DVDs arrived today. Good looking package, smart looking extras: I rewatched an episode without commentary just because the blog doesn't have all the recaps up. Four more after this one. I'm so backed up!

Derreck said...

i'm with Lev Lewis.

I'm biting my lip with delight. I'm biting my lip thinking about it. I'm biting my lip while typing this.

James T said...

I love it that Twilight doesn't have its own label :p

Ishmael said...

Someone must also have been ninth.
And twenty-third!
;-)

Andrew R. said...

I'm evil, I voted New Moon.

If you've seen Donner's Movie Reviews, you know what I think of this film.

Unknown said...

I always crack up when I think of the wolf fist pump from Fantastic Mr. Fox, though the whackbat scene is great too.

Peter Nellhaus said...

I loved the complete five hour Red Cliff. I got the import DVDs back when it wasn't certain that the original version would be available as a U.S. DVD. Lots of good stuff in that film. Even if you don't write about it, see it anyways.

Urey said...

I'm getting both "Fantastic Mr. Fox" and "Mad Men" on Friday! Can't wait! It seems like I'll have to get "The Blind Side" for my best actress collection.

I voted for "Fantastic Mr. Fox", just for some more animated film coverage here.

whitney said...

I was mean. I voted for New Moon. But only because you're a smart, conscientious blogger and I want to read what you have to say about it.

Ryan T. said...

Saw New Moon, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Brothers in the past two days. Thanks Netflix! My respective reactions to the films: Hilarious in a bad way, hilariously in a good way, and not hilarious at all.

NATHANIEL R said...

Ryan... those are astute rundowns ;)

Burning Reels said...

By the sounds of it, your tossed off thoughts regarding Red Cliff might be a little too adult for some Nathaniel;)

Glenn said...

Fantastic Mr Fox is just so very terrific. Jason Schwartzmann did my second favourite voice acting of the decade in that movie (after Ellen DeGeneres, of course).

gabrieloak said...

I can't wait to watch the complete Red Cliff which deserved to be a big hit. And I will be watching Fox for many years to come.

Andrew K. said...

Even though I was not thrilled with Meryl's live-action work this last year, I heavily maintain that were animated performances eligible for these acting categories Meryl would probably trump everyone one in a Best Actress list of 09 (including my beloved Carey and Abbie).

Melanie said...

I watched the first half of "Brothers" this evening.

If it was engrossing, I would have watched the whole thing straight through, but it was moving pretty slow. So I decided to watch the second half tomorrow night.