The original four Batman movies are coming to the 4K UHD format. Exciting!
And, the art for the covers? Terrible!
It looks like the design decisions were turned over to a 19-year-old intern that didn’t give a shit. Ugh. C’mon, guys. There are plenty of talented graphics designers out there that would love to take a crack at something like this … and would do a much better job.
You should immediately go see this movie. It’s awesome.
What’s been happening, you might ask?
– Finally saw Captain Marvel. It was pretty good. Now I want a flurken.
– Celebrated David’s (33rd) birthday.
– Went to a St. Patrick’s Day bash and drank too much beer.
– Saw the 80th Anniversary screening of Gone With the Wind.
I have been keeping up with my daily exercise … maybe even obsessively so. So, it was thoroughly depressing to get on the scales this morning and see that I have gained back 10 of the 20lbs. that I lost last year. I could tell that I had put on some weight over the holidays but I didn’t imagine it was that bad. Ten fucking pounds! This make me feel like giving up and just becoming a fat slob again. Ugh. I guess I need to be better about snacks/fast food/eating out and cut down on the alcohol intake.
Spring is around the corner and I am itching to get out and hike. It’s been way too long since I have treked through the woods. Who wants to go along?
Meanwhile … this bad boy arrived yesterday. It’s Arrow Video‘s (now sold out) Limited Edition The Ring Collection featuring the original Japanese movie (Ringu) and all its sequels. You had me at “Limited Edition.” Plus, I do loves me some J-Horror.
I need to change my underwear because Criterion just announced Hedwig and the Angry Inch for release in June! Squee!!!
What a lazy weekend. I watched FIVE movies.
– Adore (2013)
– Song of the South (1946)
– Falling Down (1993)
– I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House (2016)
– Morocco (1930)
Adore was “meh.” Pretty people with pretty people problems.
I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House was also “meh.” It’s the second film from Osgood Perkins (Anthony Perkins’ son). The movie had some cool production design (I want that house!) and camera work but the story was nearly non-existent and super sloooooooooooooow. The Blackcoat’s Daughter was much better.
I saw Falling Down back when it opened. I had forgotten how much I liked this movie. Michael Douglas in one of the most underrated actors out there.
I decided to get started on the Dietrich & von Sternberg in Hollywood box set that Criterion has released. First up was Morocco. It’s a really great movie. Dietrich and Gary Cooper are awesome (and beautiful). I loves me some pre-code movies.
And that brings me to Song of the South. I have been wanting to see this for a while because all the talk about how racist it is. So, I tracked down a bootleg on the interwebs and watched. The verdict? Racially insensitive … yes. Intentionally Racist … no. There is really nothing in this movie that is any worse than Gone with the Wind or any number of movies set in the south after the Civil War that were made in the 30’s and 40’s. The biggest sin of Song of the South is that it’s pretty boring.
Meanwhile …
In anticipation of the new sofa (which had better be here on schedule next week), I gave the old one away. We moved it out of the house yesterday and now have two super uncomfortable IKEA chairs in the living room to get us through. It feels a little weird to have gotten rid of a five-year-old sofa, but when the material is peeling off the cushion covers … you gotta do what you gotta do.
Meanwhile, the hell that is daylight savings time is upon us.
The artwork for the upcoming Scorpion Releasing 3-Disc Limited Edition of Dario Argento’s Opera is a thing of beauty.
I woke up late this morning and that discombobulated the whole day. Ugh.
And it’s not like the weekend was super busy to make me exhausted so that I slept through the alarm. It was actually pretty lazy. I mostly just a lot of sat around and watched stuff.
Here are Some Things that Happened Over the Weekend:
– Saw Red at the theater.
– Drank some Lagunitas Brown Shugga’. It’s a damn fine beer.
– Started watching Penny Dreadful. So far, so good.
– Walked around the Lake.
– Took a nap!
– Watched Hell Fest. Mindless but fun.
– Watched The Strangers: Prey at Night. Annoyingly stupid at points.
– Did a very, very small amount of freelance work.
– Watched Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Amazing animation!
– Bought four hex bolts and Blueberry Cobbler Cheddar Cheese.
– Watched Crooked House. A fairly descent who-dunnit.
Thank goodness we had some sun on Saturday. Any break in the monotony of the dreary, rainy weather that has become the standard here is like a life line. We went from Dreary, Rainy Friday to Sunny Saturday to Cold, Gross, Rainy Sunday. Today was also cold and gross. Quadruple Ugh. I am over it!
Isn’t talking about the weather exciting?
Meanwhile … here is something pretty for you to purchase.
Waxworks Records has released CRUISING Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Score. It’s a 3-LP colored vinyl edition of the complete soundtrack to William Friedkin’s controversial 1980 movie. The package is designed by Aesthetic Apparatus and looks amazing. Get it!
Word on the street is that Arrow Video is going to be releasing Cruising on Blu-ray sometime in the near future. I am pretty pumped about that! Check out the trailer …
The big excitement over the weekend was the purchase of a new, funky sofa. The one that I have had for a little over five years has to go away. The cushions are covered in some sort of “bonded” material that is peeling off all over the place. It sucks because the sofa is still in good shape. The new sofa promises to be a bit more stylish than the current black on is.
Yep. It’s orange!
We also went and saw How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World. I love this series and the new installment is the perfect ending to the trilogy. You seriously need to see all of them if you have not.
Oh, and … Hiccup, our hero, starts sporting a beard. To this I say, “YES!”
So, what do you do when you have a potentially large tax bill looming over you? You order a stupidly expensive limited edition Blu-ray set from Germany, of course! 😀
Psycho Legacy Collection Deluxe Edition
World Premiere: Alfred Hitchcock’s classic uncut on Blu-Ray Disc for the first time + Psycho II, III, IV + remake + Bates Motel TV movie + full-length documentaries The Making of Psycho, Psycho Legacy & 78/52 on 8 Blu-Ray Discs including over 15 hours of bonus features + Audio Commentaries and 4×3 Retro Versions + large size 120 page book The Psycho Files by Tobias Hohmann (in German) + Din A1 Poster “Norman Bates” + 4 DIN A2 Posters + 6 Art Cards + Replicas of Sam Loomis’ Letter (English/German) + 25 sheets of “Bates Motel” notepaper and a “Do Not Disturb” door hanger. The edition is limited to 3,636 units.
Someone seriously needs to perform a Limited Edition Blu-ray Intervention. I’m outta control!
Random Things that have happened since Friday …
Re-watched The Private Eyes. It’s totally silly but totally filmed at Biltmore.
Speaking of …. I went to Biltmore and took in the new Vanderbilt House Party exhibit. It was really cool and the flower arrangements throughout the house were spectacular.
Finally watched Overlord. It’s B-Movie goodness and I enjoyed it!
Finally binged Bodyguard on Netflix and really dug it. The story didn’t go where I was expecting it to. Be sure to check it out.
And … Double Baconator Meal at Wendy’s! 😀
Seriously stoked that there is a big fancy 4K edition Prince of Darkness (my favorite-est John Carpenter movie) coming from Studiocanal! How can you not love a movie starring Jameson Parker‘s most excellent moustache? This bad boy is already on pre-order.
This release is beautifully packaged with a stylish, newly commissioned illustration by Matt Ferguson on the cover. It contains a UHD of the feature as well as a Blu-ray feature disc, bonus disc and the original soundtrack on CD. It also contains 5 art cards, a newly illustrated theatrical poster and booklet containing original articles, photography from the set, production notes and an essay from celebrated film journalist Kim Newman.
SPECIAL FEATURES
*drools*
Earlier this year during the run up to the release of Mission Impossible: Fallout (the best movie of the year, BTW), Paramount put all the previous Mission Impossible films out on 4K UHD discs. They designed the art for all those releases to match. Pretty awesome … right? Yes! Was it too much to hope they would keep that design style for the eventual disc release (only seven months later) of Fallout? Evidently so!
This angers the designer in me. Why spend the time designing a matching set to only throw said design template out the window when the new movie comes out? Plus … this messes with my OCD sooooooooo bad.
Thanksgiving was fairly nice with lots of fellowship and waaaaaay too much food.
But, most importantly, material needs were met with Black Friday specials and the Criterion/B&N 50% Off Sale! He who dies with the most movies wins … right?
Black Friday Goodies …
Criterion/B&N 50% Off Sale Goodies …
In reality … I really do need to stop buying movies. It’s gotten TOTALLY OUT OF CONTROL!
We went over to Gatlinburg on Sunday … and amidst moonshine drinking, old tyme photo-ing, and Mysterious Mansion-ing, I was able to get a fancy new pair of KEEN hiking shoes at the NOC’s Gatlingburg outpost. If I ever quit buying movies then I would just end up spending all my money on super cool hiking gear.
