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May 29, 2008
Greetings! Savant's new reviews today are Carve Her Name With Pride MGM/Fox Easy Living Universal and The Sand Pebbles Savant Blu-ray Review Fox Home Video 
A busy week! And a couple of things to share: A new Warner Home Video Gangsters Vol. 4 box is coming, I don't know quite when. It'll have The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse, The Little Giant, Larceny Inc., Invisible Stripes and Kid Galahad. That's a lot of Edward G. Robinson movies. The box will also come with a new long-form documentary on the Gangster genre. Sometime around Christmas, Fox Home Video will be giving us a special F.W. Murnau / Frank Borzage box, on a 3 to 8 split. Murnau's titles are Sunrise, Four Devils and City Girl while Borzage's brood includes Lazybones, Seventh Heaven, Street Angel, The River (fragments), Lucky Star, They Had to See Paris, Song O' My Heart and Liliom. That's quite a list and I fear the box is going to be as expensive as last year's John Ford collectables. (Thanks to Scott Stirneman) I have more Legend reviews on the way: Hitler: The Last Ten Days, Desperate Characters and The Busy Body. I've just discovered that The Man Who Could Cheat Death is supposed to be a Best Buy Exclusive (why???), a categorization that might also apply to Phase IV. There must be some heavy duty profit incentive in these Best Buy Exclusives that I don't see.
Other titles with Savant reviews coming up, in no particular order: The Willow Tree, The Fire Within, Night of the
As a parting shot, I was sent this link to a funny Tom the Dancing Bug comic, if you like making fun of the Wunnerful Whirl of Dizzy. This time the subject is The League of Public Domain Properties and if the link changes remember that the date for the cartoon is May 24, 2008. Cheers, Glenn Erickson
May 25, 2008
Greetings! Savant's new reviews today are MGM / Fox and The Man With The Golden Arm Warner Home Video 
A very fast weekend that included a long car trip of the kind that the newspeople say nobody is taking ... all I can say is that fewer older cars were crossing the desert on the interstate, which tells me that citizens of limited means are the ones most affected by high gas prices. (duh)
Savant's working on his usual pattern ... May had a surfeit of excellent titles, most of which came after street date and I'll be catching up with them for the next week or two. If you really buy based on my recommendations and something hasn't come up yet, feel free to write and I'll tell you in a few words if the video is upside down or purple, or whatever you need to know -- that is, if it's a disc I've received. Hey -- my terrific new DVDtalk disc wrangler (initials J.S.) has even found me a copy of Tobor The Great! Note ... the still is here only because I was looking for an attractive visual .. and thinking about a certain remake in the works. Pretty good home security, no? --- Thanks, Glenn Erickson
May 23, 2008
Greetings! Savant's new reviews today are Savant Blu-ray Review, Warner Home Video Frank Sinatra The Golden Years The Tender Trap, The Man with the Golden Arm, Some Came Running, None but the Brave, Marriage on the Rocks Warner Home Video and Some Came Running (Separate Review) Warner Home Video Hello! One heck of a week here ... a month's worth of discs came in all at once -- Some of the MGMs, Fox and Columbia titles in addition to new Criterions and several very good-looking Blu-ray discs. As just plain old Glenn Erickson, Savant is now posting reviews at three outside sites: his home ground of DVDTalk, TCM Turner Classics Movies and Film.com. Just up at Film.com is a review for a new Lionsgate disc of Night of the Living Dead --- and a short article about movie references in the new Indiana Jones epic, The Connect-the-Dots Game. It's not recommended reading until you've seen the movie. Are you a stop-motion animation fan? The Classic Horror Film Board posted this U-Tube link to a brief animation test for Jack the Giant Killer that you might like to see. Savant's old review is here. It discusses the movie's bizarre "musicalized" version. Thanks for reading! -- Glenn Erickson
May 18, 2008
Tuesday May 20, 2008
Greetings! Savant's new reviews today are Legend Films and The One That Got Away MGM / Fox 
It may be a subjective delusion, but I try not to bore my readers with too much Savant-centric news. Well, today is a somewhat exceptional case that I feel compelled to, uh, share. As I write, this is actually Sunday the 18th. I've just returned from a screening on the Paramount lot (all of four blocks away) for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Paramount had press screenings all day long in their large theater, a real beauty that I've only been in three times in the last ten years, starting with Sleepy Hollow. It's simply the best theater I know of, tuned to perfection for every performance. The 'Press Screening' seemed overloaded with Paramount personnel, their families and friends of friends of friends, but once we got past security everything was fine. Shock of the day -- the little kid I sat next to came in wearing an Indiana Jones hat, but he was perfectly behaved! (no spoilers) Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is more of the same for this franchise, with an older Harrison Ford. Kids will love the movie, along with confirmed Indiana Jones fans. Although Ford's in fine shape the formula is very tired; several of Indy's set-piece action scenes have been recycled for the 3rd time. The screenplay is a wildly eclectic grab-bag of ideas from a couple dozen 50's Sci-Fi and adventure movies, only a couple of which are developed to any extent. There's enough here for six movies, or a better-paced trilogy. The video game notion of packing in 50 ideas when one will do doesn't really pay off. And when something really cool comes along (and there are many very cool things here) it's frustrating knowing that the idea has been 'used up' for another 20 years. To quote only one example, the scene recreating the 'marabunta' plague from The Naked Jungle is really great, but far too brief. On the plus side, the movie has many wonderful designs and clever mechanical gags. The CGI effects are exciting but also sort of a downer ... the impossible action scenes never have an impact, even though dozens of stunt men are credited. Indy and company hardly get a scratch and are more fall & punch resistant than cartoon characters. It's good, up-to-date ADD fun, but curiously un-engaging. The script has a typical Lucas case of the cutes, but lacks a general sense of humor and tries to compensate with a constant flow of inside gags. The villains aren't very interesting; after touching all the right liberal bases vis a vis the HUAC years, etc, we get Russkies as cardboard baddies. The exciting Cate Blanchett is given a part not unlike a bad girl in a new Bond film ----- except sexless. One aspect that succeeds when I didn't think it would work is Indy's relationship with Marion Ravenswood (Karen Allen) and a new youthful sidekick Shia LeBeouf. Some of their scenes are quite touching. ----Another subject: I received a screener of the Blu-ray V for Vendetta a few days ago, which turned into an odd episode. I'm writing about it here because I already whined to my understanding Warner Home Video contact and wrote several email exchanges with reader and friend Jeff Swindoll. I popped the disc in my two-month-old player and unhappily watched as it froze up between the MPAA card and the 2nd Warner logo. Gulp. Warners sent me another copy, and it didn't play either. That was Savant's cue to panic, and jump to the conclusion that my 1.0 Sony Blu-ray player had been sold to me under false pretenses. Even though newer and perhaps less expensive players are due this summer, I decided that I couldn't wait to start reviewing Blu-ray discs. Various resources claimed that the generation 2 players would mainly add computer and game playing features. Playing the discs might mean only that an extra or two wouldn't work occasionally. I of course assumed that because V for Vendetta locked up, all the discs from here on out weren't going to play in my machine. Yes, I was to become a (gasp!) Victimized Early Adopter. My producer, who has a level head, has a machine similar to mine. He downloaded firmware updates from the web and I installed the one appropriate for my machine. I had to install it twice to get the proper result but now V for Vendetta plays perfectly ... with an odd pause at that 'freeze up' spot. So until the next crisis, all my paranoia was in vain for nothing. I'm composing my apology note to my Warner Home Video contact now. Moral of story: those Home Video Forum techies can be a royal pain with their oscilloscopes and statistics, but unlike me I bet they know how to properly set up their machines. Pretty soon we'll have toasters and toothbrushes that need constant upgrades from the manufacturer. -- Thanks for reading, Glenn Erickson
May 16, 2008
Savant's new reviews today are Criterion and Villa Rides! Legend Films Greetings! The friendly Dick Dinman has a couple of new web-based audio interview shows that I'm happy to promote tonight. I want to learn more of what Robert Osborne has to say when he and Dick "candidly talk at considerable length about Sinatra's late career laziness": Frank Sinatra: A Tribute to the (Acting) Chairman of the Board: Dick Dinman's guests Turner Classics Movies host Robert Osborne and three-time Best Actress Oscar nominee and two-time Sinatra leading lady Eleanor Parker (in a rare and exclusive interview) focus on Sinatra the actor and offer some revealing and occasionally critical insights about Sinatra's dramatic abilities. A Conversation with Robert Osborne. In this second show, Dick says that Osborne gives us some gratifying news about upcoming TCM acquisitions. They discuss the dramatically increased popularity of the Golden Age cinema classics as well as some major never Oscar-nominated stars whose work has always been taken for granted. I haven't paid much attention to special screenings lately -- the new movies being offered don't always appeal -- but I think I'll check out the new Indiana Jones movie this weekend, just to be able to give an early report -- I promise no spoilers, although the one trailer I saw looks like it's 50% repeated situations from earlier series episodes. Take a look at this Dial B For Blog page that makes a case for the first IJ movie being, ahem, borrowed from a Scrooge McDuck comic book! -- Thanks for reading, Glenn Erickson
May 14, 2008
Finally! Savant's new reviews today are MGM / Fox and The Major and the Minor Universal 
First off, today's post debuts a film Savant's been whining for for ten years, when he posted an early article about the need for Anthony Mann's Man of the West, with Gary Cooper and Julie London (found her yet?). A DVD is finally here. Savant headquarters experienced a major DSL breakdown that, in unison with an inability to directly upload material to DVDtalk, seriously interfered with this site's normally dependable work flow. I won't go into the details, but both issues seem to have been resolved (at least for the moment) and we're soldiering on. And I thought I'd never be addicted to anything, but four days with interrupted net access and dealing with dial-up on strange computers, and I was ready to knock off a convenience store to recover my high-speed fix. On a more optimistic note, DVD Savant is pleased to announce that he's now contributing reviews to the Film.com website. The first two are for Warner Home Video's Frank Sinatra The Golden Years box and an individual entry for Sinatra's Some Came Running. My new boss at Film.com, Mark Bourne, suggested that I ask readers to offer a short comment at the bottom of one of the reviews, you know, to let the Film.com brass know that they haven't backed a lame horse, bought a pig in a poke or tied an albatross around their necks. (That comes later.) The main DVD Savant site at DVDtalk will continue as Savant's home base, assuming that the website management issues stay resolved, the dam holds, and I don't start flashing back to the long-ago Cambodia protests. A note for reader esa@net : I wrote a nice answer to your note but your returm email ain't working no way no how. Any suggestions? For something more fun, Allan Peach has forwarded this great link to a UK site called Golden Age Comics. It has a vast archive of public domain comics from the 20 to the 1950s! Thanks for reading (!), Glenn Erickson
May 09, 2008
Greetings! Savant's new reviews today are Legend Films Girls Just Want to Have Fun Starz! / Anchor Bay and Houdini Legend Films I always remember May 10 because of the Travis Bickle quote from Taxi Driver, and here we are again. Some day a real rain ... Some interesting news this week. Criterion has announced that sometime this fall, they'll begin releasing some of their discs in the Blu-ray format, and they've put out a brief list, which contains The Third Man, The Last Emperor, The Wages of Fear, Bottle Rocket, Walkabout, El Norte, Gimme Shelter and many others, including a few new titles. I've also heard that Blu-ray production is stepping up at all the studios, with many titles now in the pipeline at Fox. So I would think that the flood would be beginning around August. The disc finders at DVDTalk have dispatched screeners for me of The Major and the Minor and Easy Living, so reviews of those favorites will be up fairly soon, if after street date. I'm hitting more titles earlier now thanks to better relations with the distributors. Still sticky are MGM and Fox films, which will already means that the highly desirable May 13 MGM films will be late: Man of the West, Carve Her Name with Pride, The One That Got Away, The Secret Invasion, The Day of the Outlaw, Navajo Joe. No matter how late they are, I'll want to review them. Thanks for reading, Glenn Erickson
May 06, 2008
Hello! Sorry we're so late. Savant's new reviews today are Warners La roue Flicker Alley / Blackhawk and Merrill's Marauders Warner An unnamed but well-connected source gave me this amazing link: Animator vs. Animation by Alan Becker. Don't stop, don't ask questions. Just open the window as wide as you can before you press 'Go.' It lasts about 3 minutes. And when you're finished, check out this even wilder followup, Alan Becker's "Animator vs. Animation II". Thanks, Glenn Erickson
May 02, 2008
Savant's new reviews today are The Gunfighter, Rawhide, Garden of Evil Fox The Delirious Fictions of William Klein Who Are You Polly Maggoo?, Mr. Freedom, The Model Couple Eclipse Irma Vep Second Sight Region 2 PAL review by Lee Broughton and Z.P.G. (Zero Population Growth) Legend Films Hello, short post today: Eight reviews, no waiting! Just thought I'd pass on this link to a UK TV commercial that features our scaly old friends, the Gremlins. It looks very expensive! Thanks for reading, Glenn Erickson
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Living Dead 40th, Icons of Adventure (Stranglers of Bombay, Terror of the Tongs, Pirates of Blood River, Devil-Ship
Pirates), Patton Blu-ray, Cloverfield Blu-ray, Tobor the Great, Grace is Gone, Starting Out in the Evening, Lost Colony, Company Blu-ray, The Professionals Blu-ray, The Andromeda Strain (TV), Before the Rain and The Furies. Whew! I have yet to get The Night they Raided Minsky's and it's about time, darn it .....
