recent DVD purchases

Post by **BlueChair** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 8:19 am

It's worth noting that this past week's episode of The Office was written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant and was quite possibly the best episode yet.

Seriously, don't judge the U.S. version from the first few episodes, or even the first season, cause the writing and acting has gotten much sharper. Sure, it's not as subtle as the UK version and there are still many obvious influences, but it's not really a copycat show at this point.

Boy With A Problem · Post by **Boy With A Problem** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 10:51 am

Who Shot Sam? wrote:Two words BWAP - The Wire.

I picked up the first season a few weeks ago.

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 11:00 am

Boy With A Problem wrote:
Who Shot Sam? wrote:Two words BWAP - The Wire.
I picked up the first season a few weeks ago.

Just finished watching season one again with my wife and now she's hooked. There's a great interview with the show's creator, David Simon, on Slate.com...

http://www.slate.com/id/2154694/

I haven't really watched any of season four yet and may wait until it's out on DVD - it's the sort of program that's better absorbed in one go, I think.

Jackson Monk · Post by **Jackson Monk** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 2:04 pm

Western Skies - Roddy Frame

Old posters will no doubt yawn. I care not.

After Nick Drake, there is nobody who moves me with his melodies and lyrics. Just down to earth fucking fantastic songs.

If you don't love this then you're fucking dead from the ears down.

Tim(e) · Post by **Tim(e)** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 5:27 am

I have picked up too many to list since the last time I posted in this thread, but my highlights would have to be:

Seven Samurai - the remastered 3 disc edition from Criterion
The German Horror Collection containing: The Golem, Nosferatu, Cabinet of Dr Calligari and Waxworks
The remastered 2 disc edition of Forbidden Planet
Kamikaze Taxi
The complete Comic Strip Presents collection
In Search of the One Eyed Jesus
John Foggerty Live in Concert
blah blah blah blah...

invisible Pole · Post by **invisible Pole** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 6:52 pm

Cannot understand why I waited so long with buying this superb collection of Beautiful South songs.

Perfect pop songs and witty, unpretentious videos, a couple of which Iâ€™ve never seen before, including one to my absolute fave â€“ â€œPrettiest Eyesâ€

so lacklustre · Post by **so lacklustre** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 4:38 am

i never caught seinfeld first time around but have got up to series 4 on dvd and they just get better and better. love curb too.

if you really want to see top notch british humour get the green wing. i have the first series on dvd and i think the 2nd series is out now.

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 8:57 am

I purchased this new Criterion reissue of G.W. Pabst's silent classic just before the holidays. A great great film, and the DVD is just loaded with interesting extras. As for Louise Brooks - what a stunner!

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 6:05 pm

Despite my many hours in the Filmoteca of Madrid, I never saw that one. Sounds like a musst see. Great name, Pabst.

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 6:20 pm

Certainly one of the best silent films I've ever seen - up there with Dreyer's Passion of Joan of Arc, Chaplin's City Lights and Buster Keaton's The General.

The most memorable for me was a showing of Sergei Eisenstein's October at the Palais des Papes in Avignon, with live orchestra. That was something else. Not Eisenstein's best film, but so viscerally exciting in that context.

mood swung · Post by **mood swung** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 8:45 am

Great name, Pabst.

especially right before the words blue ribbon.

Mechanical Grace · Post by **Mechanical Grace** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 9:46 am

Oh yeah, baby. If you're slumming beer, gimme a PBR over a Bud Lite any day.

Throughout my childhood, the PBR factory in Newark, NJ was a beacon of beer. Gone now. Here's a picture of it on its way out...

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 7:31 pm

God that picture is evocative for me! I'm at the bit in American Pastoral where swede Levov goes to his estranged daughter's hovel of a home in downtown Newark. The descriptions of the wastelands of the city are heartbreaking. That picture fits it so well. Maybe there's a Pabst reference coming up.

ice nine · Post by **ice nine** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 10:56 pm

From The Big Apple To The Big Easy:The Concert For New Orleans

I found this DVD that rivals The Last Waltz as far as concert DVDs go. This is a two set DVD of the Madison Sq. Garden concert.

Disc One starts with the host of the evening, Ed Bradley, introducing The Allen Toussaint Band. He does several songs as well as bringing on selected artist like Lenny Kravitz, Art and Aaron Neville, and Jimmy Buffet out on some songs. Elvis joins him for 'On Your Way Down/Yes We Can Can'. Irma Thomas joins the band for 'Time Is On My Side'. The disc finishes off witha special blues band made up of Ry Cooder, Buckwheat Zydeco, and Lenny Kravitz doing a few numbers.

You would think it would be tough to beat disc #1, but it does. Jimmy Buffett and The Coral Reefers do a few numbers (with Sonny Landreath at guitar). He also brings out some special guests to helo him on a couple of songs (Dave Mathews doing 'Heart of Gold' and Paul Simon on one) Then John Fogerty does two numbers with his band. Then Elvis comes back out with Dave Bartholomew for 'The Monkey'. Then it's Simon and Garfunkel's turn to do a few tunes. They are joined by Aaron Neville doing a spectacular turn at 'Bridge Over Troubled Water'. The concert ends with both The Meteors and The Neville Brothers.

http://www.amazon.com/Big-Apple-Easy-Ma ... UTF8&s=dvd

Mechanical Grace · Post by **Mechanical Grace** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 8:07 am

ice nine wrote:From The Big Apple To The Big Easy:The Concert For New Orleans

I found this DVD that rivals The Last Waltz as far as concert DVDs go.

That's a serious claim! Glad to hear it's good though.

This is only $25 via Amazon right now:

However, Barnes & Noble's having a comparable sale-- buy one TV boxed set, get another free-- so with a markdown and a membership discount I got the above PLUS this for about $40:

Any other fans here of that Grenada series? Jeremy Brett is the perfect Holmes, the only Holmes in my book; just cold and insane enough to pull it off, while still showing he's human, now and again.

I've just started in on Firefly, which I've never seen. Where are Bobster and Poppet when you need 'em?!

Really good stuff. Not quite as good as Buffy so far, but it's very different, and I'm hooked. Which is good as I plan to finish all 4 discs before the 8th, so I can give the (semi-used) set to my sis as a birthday present.

Mechanical Grace · Post by **Mechanical Grace** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 8:31 am

Speaking of Jeremy Brett, I just noticed that he also played Freddy in the film version of My Fair Lady. What an odd bit of casting!

Apparently his singing was dubbed despite the fact that he sings well.

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 7:04 pm

Mechanical Grace wrote:Any other fans here of that Grenada series? Jeremy Brett is the perfect Holmes, the only Holmes in my book

Granada, btw. I loved him in it too, though I grew up watching Basil Rathbone and for me no-one else is entitled to play the part. there's a new theatre production on up in Leeds of hound of Baskervilles with Javier Marzan from Spain playing Holmes with strong Spanish accent. Heard him on radio. A scream!

Mechanical Grace · Post by **Mechanical Grace** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 7:27 pm

My God, did I make a typo???? Oh I am shamed unto death.

I've seen the BR films and they're great but JB brings out all SH's peculiarities and darkness in a way I find truer to the original. To each... I guess.

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 7:44 pm

Mechanical Grace wrote:My God, did I make a typo????

No, you decided the production company was named after the island rather than the great Spanish city!

BR was entirely of his times, but they used to show them on Fri evenings when I was a teen, and |i'd go home and watch them for weeks on end and love every moment.

Mechanical Grace · Post by **Mechanical Grace** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 6:33 pm

I got this for my birthday. Fantastic. The extras are good but too short-- loved the mini-doc about real-life Boston crime boss Whitey Bulger.

I hadn't seen the film, and it's a greaty. So good to see Jack Nicholson in a real role-with-a-capital-R; it's been a while. Great story, great acting, great direction. Some odd sound problems, I thought-- am I nuts, or did the dialogue sometimes seem a bit out of sync? Anyway, I hope it gets Marty his Oscar.

Can't wait to watch the whole thing again this weekend!

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 7:45 pm

Exhuming this thread after a year! (And why did a search for topic titles with DVD in yield nothing?)

I love this. Saw it several times in the cinema when it came out (in Madrid, London and Berlin itself). Great score. Great concept. Peter Falk.

Everyone rates this. haven't seen it yet

Held back on this at Christmas, but temptation overcame me when I found it's 14 films (with Psycho as double DVD) for all of £25 in HMV, and then they had this companion 6 film set (Strangers on a Train is a double) - companion in terms of not repeating any from the bigger box set - for all of £15. That's 20 films from The Master for £40, outrageous. And my 11 & 15 year old sons are dying to watch the lot with their folks, so that's one a week for the next 5 months! In chronological order, natch. Enjoyed Saboteur thus far. Bizarre and over the top, but great fun. Hours of pleasure ahead.

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 9:24 pm

Ah, there's the DVD thread! I couldn't find it either. The search function on this site is a little eccentric.

Just picked this up but haven't watched it yet.

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 7:43 pm

That was a freebie with a recent weekend newspaper. Saw it in the cinema way back when, can't wait to see it again, the pram on the steps and all. I can't believe the stuff they give away these days. I've got a growing library of great films all for the price of a paper I was buying anyway. It lessens the value of the item, but it makes me happy.

Not a DVD, telly, but what the hell, I just really enjoyed watching About Schmitt. I thought it was really well done and carried by Nicholson's fabulous acting. What a face!

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 9:05 pm

Finally got around to watching Season 4 of The Wire this week. Devastating and so so good. If you care about where we are headed, you owe it to yourself to watch this program.

I can't imagine that I'll ever be more affected by a television series. And I still have Season 5 to look forward to.

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Sat Sep 20, 2008 7:11 pm

I love the degree of praise this series has got. I read about it longingly when it was first screened on the FX channel here, one not in my cable package. Now it is, and so I watched a minute or 10 of series 5 just to see a bit of it. Looked great, but what did I know about what was going on? So clearly I had to get it, first time I've ever bought a TV series. The Word race about it and carry a very good interview with Simon in this month's edition. He's a tremendously intelligent and interesting character, and the story of how he got involved with Baltimore homicide police as a journalist and then, disaffected with the steady demise of newspapers, got his lucky TV break is absorbing. I imagine the interview you linked to up above is worth it too.

Series 1-5 are coming out on a box set in Dec. Couldn't wait, so got series 1. My son is dying to watch it too and has been watching it on YouTube! It just sounds like very original and important stuff with huge points to make. Great that TV can produce great art too. And clearly the man has great taste in music. Will report back in a few weeks...

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