Hey folks. Plenty of stuff for to be getting on with, so quit your yacking and such.
Star Wars Trilogy
It's here, finally. Sort of. Now that Lucas realizes DVD might not be top-of-the-pile for as long as he thought, he flings these out before we all move on and so on. Mammoth 2-and-a-half-hour documentary dominates the extras, alongside commentaries on each flick.
These are, of course, the Special Edition versions, meaning some stuff's been added and / or taken away. Jabba The Hut gets yet another digital makeover in A New Hope to bring him closer to the cretin from Return Of The Jedi; Darth Vader gets his eyebrows shaved off for some reason; Hayden Christensen appears at the end of Jedi instead of the elderly Darth. Loads of tweaks and so on, most of which you probably won't notice, some of which will have you on message boards for the next two months to say all about "Lucas raped my childhood" and also "Episode III will OWN YOUR ASSES".
Battle Of Algiers
Among the greatest documentaries ever crafted, this 1965 classic takes as its subject the revolution which saw the folks from Algiers clashing with the French in horrifically barbaric fashion. A stunning flick, and incredibly revealing. Uncomfortable, though, for sure, but yet a must see.
Carindiru
A revolution of a different sort, but just as harrowing, Hector Babenco helms this tale of life inside the brutal prison of the title, and the massacre which occurred there in 1992. Enough to make a fella seethe with the rage, this is powerful and moving.
Coffee And Cigarettes
Something far more trivial but not less captivating from Jim Jarmusch, this has plenty of witty and inventive dialogue, and also a cast-list to die for; The White Stripes, Tom Waits, Steve Buscemi, Roberto Benigni and countless others gather to smoke and drink the brown stuff via a series of very-loosely connected vignettes.
John Cassavettes - Five Films
Charles Kiselyak's biographical documentary A Constant Forge complements this selection of work by the daddy of American Independent Cinema. Warm, humane, self-financed and Hardcore To My Heart, From Tha Fuckin Start, the five gems included here are as follows; Shadows (1959), Faces (1968), A Woman Under The Influence (1974), The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie (1976) and Opening Night (1977).
La Dolce Vita - 2 Disc Special Edition
2-Disc set for Felini's masterpiece. Cynical, funny, observant and, above all, fucking gorgeous, this is very possibly the best flick the fella ever made. But then we'd have to forget about La Strada and 81/2, which would be an act fit only for object ridicule.
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Article comments
1 - Franky
Duke, man, you're slipping. Battle of Algiers is not a documentary. This of course only makes its director even greater in my book.
2 - DukeDeMondo
argh bollocks!! cant believe i wrote that! curse my A.D.D.
Thanks for pointing out the slip, Franky. il fix when i get home.
Balls.
3 - Eric Olsen
And I'm certain under "La Dolce" you meant "abject ridicule," but that is the merest niggling with such a vast and deep anotation to yet another week's worth of cinematic bounty. YOu rule - thanks!
4 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
hells bells. damn you pedantic types! heh, messin is all.
But unfortunately, the post is 25-posts old, so i can't fix from my end. The eternal shame of it all....
if any of you technical wonderfolks have a minute free, it was meant to be "politically minded flicks" not documentary. Damn this TV set beside me
5 - HW Saxton
Duke:RE:The Ringo review. Is "Thomas The
Tank Engine"any relation to "Scruffy The
Huffy,Chuffy Tugboat"? Just curious.