recent DVD purchases

Tim(e) · Post by **Tim(e)** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 5:40 pm

I finally made time to watch Brian Wilson presents Smile.

This has to rate up there with Roy Orbison's Black and White Night and Brian Setzer Orchestra Live in Japan as one of the great live music DVDs. How do those people manage to bring together all of those voices, instruments and miscellaneous items (including penny whistles and vegetables) into such a beautiful noise? I am in awe of Wilson's imagination and practical abilities!!

Just one thing though, what is with Cosmo Kramer on keyboards and Austin Powers on percussion??!!?

I am now eagerly awaiting a few new releases such as the newly remastered releases of The Wizard of Oz and King Kong. The first comes as a three disc set that has two discs worth of supplementary materials and the latter as a two disc set, also loaded with supplementary material.

ReadyToHearTheWorst · Post by **ReadyToHearTheWorst** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 6:19 pm

I suspect that a large part of Brian Wilson's apparent rejuvenation is down to The Wondermints, and if not for their main man (bobster, help me here) Smile would not be what it is today.

bobster · Post by **bobster** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 7:45 pm

I'm sure Darian Sahanaja would be flatterered. (Never did learn how to pronounce his last name...and I think I'm misspelling it! Hope D. never pops across this site!)

Actually, though, the Wondermints are/were (haven't heard there more recent work) more of a Lennon/McCartneyesque partnership between Darian and Nick Wallusko, Darian being the McCartney to Nick's Lennon.

I'm really going to have to check this DVD out...

selfmademug · Post by **selfmademug** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 1:22 pm

Amazon has these for $42. I sense a budget about to cave...

bobster · Post by **bobster** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 7:34 pm

If I hadn't recently seen most of these on TCM I'd be weakening...

selfmademug · Post by **selfmademug** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 8:27 pm

But the commentary!!! The graphics!! The object-fetish value!!

I knew FA's singing before I knew his dancing, cause my Dad would play the records while I was growing up.

ReadyToHearTheWorst · Post by **ReadyToHearTheWorst** » Mon Aug 22, 2005 7:37 pm

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - The Videos

Some of these efforts make Elvis' videos look good! But they seemed to be having fun making them.

Bad Ambassador · Post by **Bad Ambassador** » Tue Aug 23, 2005 12:01 pm

Tim(e) wrote:I finally made time to watch Brian Wilson presents Smile.

It's a shame all his recent performances are all like Christmas concerts at a nursing home. It's almost embarrassing to watch.

Post by **BlueChair** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 8:24 pm

A little bird told me this thread already existed

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 11:32 pm

BlueChair wrote:A little bird told me this thread already existed

I couldn't find it. Honest.

Feel free to delete the duplicate thread, boss.

Post by **BlueChair** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 6:52 am

Post by **BlueChair** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 7:45 am

Exchanged a wop of store credit for:

(obviously not as good as the UK series, but has done a good job of branching out.

Mechanical Grace · Post by **Mechanical Grace** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 5:19 pm

Bought this last night and of course had to watch it all the way through immediately. Granted it was a short season. Not as good as the first two seasons, but still worth it. If there's anything much funnier than all those chicken-imitation dances, I don't know what it is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KYmvc--Ouo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DmEQzlf ... ed&search=

senior_service · Post by **senior_service** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 6:59 pm

Boy With A Problem · Post by **Boy With A Problem** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 10:15 am

senior_service wrote:

Must make a note to pick up the Minutemen dvd - have you watched it yet?

Mike Boom · Post by **Mike Boom** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 4:17 pm

Two Disc set from the Montreux Jazz Festival, one disc a jazz/blues set with a three piece including Pete Wingfield and Dallas Taylor from 1974, which is mostly unreleased stuff from the never released "Mechanical Bliss" album, some such as "Foggy Mountain Top" finally coming out on the "Philosophers Stone" set , the other disc a full band set ,with Pee Wee Ellis on sax, from 1980 just before "Common One" was released.
Disc one is interesting and cool, but disc two is just stunning from start to finish. 1. Wavelength 2. Kingdom Hall 3. It Stoned Me 4. Troubadours 5. Spirit 6. Joyous Sound 7. Satisfied 8. Ballerina 9. Summertime in England 10. Moondance 11. Haunts of Ancient Peace 12. Wild Night 13. Listen to the Lion 14. Tupelo Honey 15. Angeliou.

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 10:34 am

I've been plowing through Criterion's recent Louis Malle set, and man is it good. I'd forgotten how devastating Au revoir les enfants was, and Lacombe, Lucien may be the best fictional work ever made about the German Occupation. Murmur of the Heart is quite different - a largely comic film about adolescence - but it too is outstanding, especially the jazz soundtrack (Malle is a bit of a master at using jazz effectively in movies - Miles Davis in Elevator to the Gallows, Django Reinhardt in Lacombe, Lucien, and Charlie Parker/Dizzy Gillespie in Murmur of the Heart). Highly recommended for fans of French cinema (or any cinema for that matter).

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 6:42 pm

Is Malle dead? Seems to have disappeared if not. Maybe he did die.

Mike B: that's And It Stoned Me in a reggae stylie, right? Got that on a bootleg. V nice.

Blue: the American Office sucks! Saw one episode. How could anyone, anywhere want to be bothered watching that? Very closely based on the English original, with one significant difference: the guy playing the Gervais role is shite and utterly unfunny. I take it you know the original. If not, bin that one and replace!

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 7:00 pm

Otis Westinghouse wrote:Is Malle dead? Seems to have disappeared if not. Maybe he did die.

Yes. Died of lymphoma in the 1990s I think.

Otis, the American Office was not great at the beginning and very derivative of the UK version, but it's grown into a really good show. I like Steve Carrell, so there!

Mechanical Grace · Post by **Mechanical Grace** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 7:11 pm

The great Office debate resumes!

I bought the first season on iTunes and enjoyed it, but not nearly as much as the Gervais version. Steve Carrell has a whole different vibe; impossible to compare them, methinks.

What I don't get is, why is Curb Your Enthusiasm so popular, while Arrested Development is an either-you-know-it-or-you-don't thing? They're entirely opposites, with CYE improv-ed to a great degree, and AD tightly and hilariously scripted, with as many in-jokes, and as many second- and third-watch layers of comedy as the best Simpsons episodes. The Liza Minelli character/storyline is worth the price of admission alone, and then there's the episode where Henry Winkler literally jumps a shark while saying, "Well, I'm off to Burger King!". The cast is amazing, not a dud or even a middler among them. I can watch those shows endlessly and they just get funnier and funnier. The few episodes of CYE I've seen didn't do much for me, but I'm still willing to give it more of a chance...

Mike Boom · Post by **Mike Boom** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 7:37 pm

Mike B: that's And It Stoned Me in a reggae stylie, right? Got that on a bootleg. V nice.

Yeah, thats the one Otis, a killer version of "Summertime in England". Pee Wee Ellis is just on fire through-out. Its a wonderful DVD.

Love "Curb Your Enthusiasm", but it takes a few watches to get into. The "Ted and Mary" episode is a classic.

Only seen a few shows of "Arrested Development" and enjoyed it , need to get it on DVD.

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Fri Dec 01, 2006 9:02 pm

Was that an earlier debate? You have to compare them as the show is almost spookily derivative of its parent in many ways. To me it was black and white, Carrell was simply not funny and not painful in the way that Gervais nails so perfectly. Either you did it and nail or don't bother, and the mixed message of thinking they're doing it by copying, and then completely unnailing it makes me think 'why did they bother?' Larry David I find hilarious in the way that Gervais is. Not quite as masterful in the mix of cringe and laugh out loud funny, but not far off. Is it really improv-ed? Doesn't feel that way to me, seems like a tightly worked out plot each time. I love the inevitability of how it's always going to go wrong for him and he'll be shown up once again, something it shares with Gervais and Frasier, yet the meticulous way it's worked out each time always grabs me. It's the kind of show that you might come across channel-hopping, and it seems to get quite a lot of repeats oin different stations here, so this isn't uncommon, and after watching 10 seconds you absolutely need to know how this is going to work out. I've had similar experiences of AD and it's left me cold. Just seems rather predictable and zany, but I haven't sat down to watch it proper. It doesn't have the immediate lure for me that CYE had straight off, but I can give it a go. The thing that interests me with Larry David is that I so never got into Seinfeld, largely cos I never found the man funny himself nor at all likeable in his various plights, and the various characters seemed pretty corny to me, whereas CYE strikes me as comedy of a whole different order. I know this probably a fairly unusual take on the two, compared with friends of mine, at least.

Mechanical Grace · Post by **Mechanical Grace** » Fri Dec 01, 2006 9:20 pm

I can't imagine how you could find AD predictable! The plot is about as absurd as can be, which to me is a good thing. I dunno. I know the sort of resolution of inevitable wrong-going you mean but that's just what I don't like, I guess I'm sort of sick of that formula.

Boy With A Problem · Post by **Boy With A Problem** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 7:07 am

Otis Westinghouse wrote:,... I so never got into Seinfeld, largely cos I never found the man funny himself nor at all likeable in his various plights...

I think part of the genius of Seinfeld is that none of the characters are really likeable.

I haven't seen the US Office, but I like all of the other shows mentioned above. I need to start watching a series from the beginning, so I'll either buy the US Office dvds or just skip it. I see that deepdiscountdvd.com has a buy one get one free deal on box sets - maybe its time to pick up the first few seasons of Green Acres.

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 7:58 am

Two words BWAP - The Wire.