Savant's new reviews today are

Hello ... couldn't attend myself because of my wife's birthday, but correspondent Gary Teetzel has this to say about the world premiere of the new Godzilla movie last night at Grauman's Chinese GODZILLA FINAL WARS.

Savant's new reviews today are

(Opinionated editorializing follows)

Well, I could have held off until I had a couple more reviews done, but opted to get something to read out there - the ability to offer content regularly seems to be the important thing on the web. My review of the scandalous 1930 Buñuel film reminds me of the present trend building against the excellent new film KINSEY; while searching for an AM news station last week I came across a talk show denouncing Kinsey and the film (which didn't need to be seen, of course) as scummy trash and evidence of society's sickness. KINSEY is an honest attempt to show just how repressed and ignorant society was, and still is, about sex. And it's a brave movie, too, open in its questioning of Kinsey's approach and domineering attitude toward his research associates.

Also saw THE INCREDIBLES, a splendid movie that's the first post CGI cartoon that I thought a 100% success, just great fun. SIDEWAYS was good, better than ABOUT SCHMIDT but not as sharp as its maker's earlier satirical successes.

Now, it's time to get on to those Marx brothers movies at last. Hey, there's some irreverent anarchy that needs to be suppressed, too! Thanks, Glenn Erickson

Savant's new reviews today are

The fan-consumer groans heard this week are directed at the jolly folk up at Universal, who are about to grace us with a handful of dud pan-scan discs of favorite genre films. The worst offender is the always-slighted Colossus: The Forbin Project, a slam-bang thinking-person's scifi film about a computer taking over the world. It looks sensational in Panavision but seems to be filmed in a phone booth when seen in Pan-scan. There are several others to grieve, like Don Siegel's Charley Varrick, Last of the Independents, but Savant will be quick to lament the crummy framing (unless Uni surprises us with something different) on the terrific Sissy Spacek movie Raggedy Man. It's the one where she's stuck answering telephones during WW2 and dances with a mop to the tune of Rum and Coca Cola. One of those gems that never found a home beyond cable television, Raggedy Man is about to see its one opportunity for a proper presentation skipped over.

Have a terrific Thanksgiving. I'll probably miss Saturday's review update because of the holiday, but will keep the reviews coming, including new Criterion monster boxes and boxed sets from Home Vision and Universal. Thanks, and be kind to Turkeys. Glenn Erickson.

Savant's new reviews today are

Hello and happy Saturday! The first two titles today are ones I didn't get screeners on but liked too much to let slip by - DVDTalk now has a dedicated reviewer of Silent Films so I may be light in that category for a while. Right now I'm working hard on some large disc sets - the BATTLES WITHOUT HONOR AND HUMANITY stack, and the new MARX BROTHERS set, so I have plenty to see. All that and the Thanksgiving weekend is coming to slow down the flow of new reviews.

And a lot of quirky new and older titles are in to review as well - thanks again for all the corrections, like the difference between "forgo" and "forego." Ya learns sumpthin' noo evry day, I always say. Glenn

Savant's new reviews today are

The fun news this week is that January 25 will reportedly bring a release of Savant's nostalgic favorite The Mysterians to DVD in an enhanced widescreen version, full Toho length and in the original language supported by an English subtitle track. It's to be released by Tokyo Shock/Media Blasters. That's great news for fans who have had to make do with pan-scanned, cut and English dubbed VHS tapes; the movie is a colorful kid's delight on a big screen.

According to the Tokyo Shock/Media Blasters publicity communiqué they have also acquired the U.S. DVD rights for more prime Toho fantasy and Kaiju Eiga. Daikaiju Baran from 1958 is an atmospheric monster epic that was only partly used for the 1962 American release version Varan the Unbelievable. Stuart Galbraith told me that he thought it had been made as a nonstop destruction show to better facilitate foreign version recutting. Dogora was only shown here cut and pan-scanned on television as Dagora, Space Monster; it's a weird combo of diamond heist spy nonsense and a very weird 'space jellyfish' that reaches out with tentacles to wreck bridges and steal the world's coal supply with suction tornadoes. I once got to see the intriguing Matango thanks to correspondent Darren Gross, and it turned out to be a surprisingly effective drug-oriented movie about desire and gruesome transformations. The American TV version Attack of the Mushroom People was a bad joke, but the Japanese original is up there with Gorath (not part of this deal) as Ishiro Honda's most mature effort. The one picture in the announcement that I haven't seen is Space Amoeba, or Yog, Monster from Space. The press release didn't give release dates for the other four titles but I hope we don't have to wait too long.

Perhaps somebody can clue me to another rumor (rumor!), that someone has indeed acquired the DVD rights to the original Japanese Gojira released theatrically last year by Rialto. The later Toho output (starting with some titles around 1967 or so) gets kind of tedious but we can't get enough of the classics 1954 through 1966. I'm even willing to sit through a Gargantua or two, should they find their shaggy way to DVD.

Thanks to the readers who tipped me off about this (for me) major announcement. Glenn Erickson

Savant's new reviews today are

Well, I decided to play catch-up and to get ready for more screeners coming in so almost the entire main page of reviews has changed over this time. This also might help over the coming Thanksgiving weekend, when I might take a break. The Creature films were hard to resist. I've seen them all so many times it's difficult to have a real reaction to them. But I remember clearly seeing parodies of the Gill Man in Mad magazine before I was aware he existed, and then when the famous line of Aurora monster models appeared, the Creature was my instant favorite. The first order of business was to cut out the jagged shark teeth that Aurora added to make him seem more fierce! Those Universal monster movies were frequently shown in afternoon TV slots with dozens of commercials yet still only lasted 90 minutes, so it wasn't until high school or college that I was able to rent prints and see them intact.

Anyhoo, thanks for all the corrections and comments this week. I'll try to keep picking interesting movies. If I don't review hot titles like STAR WARS, well, there are already plenty of good reviews of those movies out there, and all my nagging about revising movies that don't need revising gets me down too. Thanks, Glenn Erickson

Savant's new reviews today are

It just got announced that Sony is in the process of restoring MAJOR DUNDEE, probably Savant's favorite picture. It's not a director's cut but the original release length that is 12 minutes longer than what's seen today. It got hacked down to 123 minutes soon after it premiered, and hasn't been seen longer than that (except in certain European countries) ever since. They've had color separations of the film but only recently recovered full audio to go with the longer cut.

The restored scenes reportedly cover such essential material as Richard Harris' escape from the Fort Benlin prison (the short cut we've all seen does a poor job of establishing that Fort Benlin is a prison) and the eventual fate of the Indian guide Riago. Everybody talks about Riago in the short cut but he remains mostly a mystery.

I hope to have a lot more to say in print about the film soon. This week, European correspondent and author Ulrich Bruckner is in town, and we're going to go to the Egyptian to see the restored print of The Good, The Bad and the Ugly on a big screen. Should be fun. Glenn Erickson

Savant's new reviews today are

So, how's about a reminder to get your holiday shopping early, eh? I'm tired of hearing about the election as well. Good luck to all of us.

It just so happened that my personal political problems cleared up the other night, just like that. VeePee Cheney sent me a nice big green seed pod in the mail, suggesting that I sleep with it nearby, 'for homeland security.' Gosh darn if I didn't wake up feeling totally relieved of my burden. Everything's fine now. All those political problems are really the duty of people more important than me to take care of, anyway, ya know? I think I'll go and watch some relaxing broadcast reality shows, and get into serious stuff, like major league sports. And may heaven keep me an honest, clean-thinking American boy....

Some hot news, for Savant at least: Home Vision will be releasing the Merchant-Ivory movie THE DECEIVERS in January. It's essentially the same story as the Hammer classic THE STRANGLERS OF BOMBAY, only it sticks to the historical facts (for those of you who believe in history or facts) and has Pierce Brosnan as the British officer determined to wipe out the Thuggees. They were a cult of murderous thieves who killed thousands of victims in colonial India. The obscure film is really fine, and I can't wait to contrast it with the more politically themed Hammer movie. Thanks again, Glenn Erickson.

Savant's new reviews today are

Well, maybe there's a reason that election day corresponds with the Mexican Day of the Dead ... and I've been up since 5 rechecking my ballot. This may be the biggest voting turnout of the last century, and I hope it doesn't become a mess like last time. As they say, 'Vote early!' and 'Vote often!' ... but once will do. Good luck to all of your favored candidates. Thanks for reading, Glenn Erickson