After a few weeks which can only be democratically described as a load of old pish, here we are with a list that houses an embarrassment of wonderments. As ever, I only allow myself 5 picks, but you'd be insane if you passed up those Film Noir classics being released by the bucket-load. No-one should be without a copy of Double Indemnity, is the sorry truth of the matter.
But here goes, these are five discs or collections that The Duke will be nodding in the direction of, and looking all sad, so as The Duchess might take pity and say, "Oh go on then. The washing machine / fridge / bedroom furniture / house can wait. Get your Buffy set, is what I'll allow."
Thanks The Duchess.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer - The Complete Season 6
A much darker affair than earlier seasons, this penultimate bout of vampire-slaying had such hilarious escapades as rape, deception, life after death and necrophilia as its core plot concerns. This season also plays host to the wonderful, if a tad overrated Once More With Feeling musical episode. Did Kolchak The Night Stalker do a musical episode? No, the lazy motherfucker hardly ever even whistled, which is why Buffy is better than The Night Stalker, and also more pleasing with regards the sex, if very attractive females is your particular peccadillo.
My Voyage To Italy
This is a documentary made by Martin Scorsese, kind of in the same vein as his earlier A Journey Through American Film, wherein he yacked for three hours about this film or that film or some scene or other. Here, he concentrates on the Italians, and probably waxes knowledgeable about the neo-realists and so on, and maybe even yacks to a few of the fellas involved. Damn near essential, is what The Duke is guessing this particular DVD will be.
Woody Allen - 4 Movie Comedy Collection
Some folks will tell you Woody Allen hasn't made a good film since Crimes And Misdemeanors. However, as proved by a recent debate in congress, this opinion is "cocksucking bullshit" (various delegates), and you can see for yourself when you pick up this set what flings together his last four ventures.
The set is book-ended by Small Time Crooks, what starts out as a crime caper and then turns into a media satire, and Annie Hall - The Next Generation, or Anything Else as it was released in some quarters, starring Christina Ricci and the fella what shags pastry in, I think, Road Trip. The two middle features are, well, middling, but Curse Of The Jade Scorpion and Hollywood Ending are still buzzing with one-liners you could slit a wrist on.
Article comments
1 - Jim Carruthers
I double recommend "Double Indemnity" for two reasons. As a tyke, I watched "My Three Sons", and it is a real shock to see Fred McMurray as a killer lead around by his pecker by one of the all-time femme fatales. And it was the inspiration for the Coen Brothers' "Billy Bob Goes Barbering" moving from the cut-throat world of insurance to rip the lid off department stores.
And speaking of "not-so gay" and defending marriage, what was the deal with Steve Douglas and "Uncle" Charlie, anyway?
And as for justifying the BtVS 6, just tell the missus that it's research, and you'll teach her how to play "shiver me timbers" afterward. If there is one disappointing bit, it is the commentary on "Perfectly Normal" (where Buffy thinks she is committed to an insane asylum, and Sunnydale, and the whole lot is just a delusion), they talk about what they had for lunch, etc. everything except the making of the ep.
2 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
Jim, i'll take your advice onboard.
Shame about the commentary. That was a brilliant episode, particularly disturbing in a season filled with nasty moments.
Unfortunately, it also had its fair share of crud, like that episode where buffy works in the fast-food place and there's an old woman with some sort of demon on her scalp.
Still, a much better season than all the negative reviews would have one belive.