New releases, 17 August 2004
Full list at DVDJournal. Short list here:
Babylon 5: The Movies (5-disc set)
It’s the must buy set of the week. With this set now, all the original BABYLON 5-centered material is on DVD. I can still remember the days of people begging for VHS releases of the series. (Columbia House started it, but didn’t get too far. Someone else tried it a little later, but skipped all over the place.)
Patience gets rewarded. Doesn’t mean I won’t be greedy and won’t wish that JMS did more commentary tracks over the course of the series, though. Oh, well.
Connie and Carla (widescreen) (2004)
Remember this one? Count yourself lucky if you don’t. I just remember it from the bad reviews it got. And calling them “bad” is being kind.
Goodfellas: Special Edition (2-disc set) (1990)
I knew if I didn’t list it here, someone would post a comment asking what’s wrong with me. So here it is. A new GOODFELLAS disc. I liked the movie, but I’m not a huge fan.
The Guyver (1991)
If it were MacGYVER, I’d probably buy it.
Lateline: The Complete Series (3-disc set)
No doubt they’re trying to capitalize on the wild popularity of Al Franken’s radio show.
BWAH HA HA. Sorry, I couldn’t say that with a straight face. I tried, though.
The TV show wasn’t bad, actually. I remember enjoying it for the most part.
New York Minute (widescreen) (2004)
Olsen Twin jokes are so last month.
The Nick and Jessica Variety Hour
Are those 15 minutes up yet?
Saved by the Bell: The College Years: Season One (3-disc set) (1993)
This was a fun show. Nothing spectacular. Nothing ground-breaking. Just a lot of fun. I used to watch this with my father when it originally aired, and he enjoyed it, too.
Taking Lives: Unrated Director’s Cut (widescreen) (2004)
Angelina Jolie versus serial killer. Admit it: Before I told you that, you had absolutely no recollection of the movie. Now you have a vague memory of it.
Who’s That Knocking At My Door? (1969)
I have no idea what this movie is, but I just had a flash back to Men At Work singing “Who can it be now?” Wow.
So what’s new next week? SHAOLIN SOCCER. There’s some more, but we’ll save that for next week. HERO starts its theatrical run this coming weekend, I believe, also. It should be a great week for Asian cinema.
August 17th, 2004 at 9:53 am
Duel is finally coming out as well. Really. Nice and cheap at Circuit City. Oddly enough, Circuit City has been a lot cheaper than Best Buy lately, at least in Texas. I saved $10 on Sliders Season 1&2, and I’ll save $5 on Duel. Crazy.
August 17th, 2004 at 10:10 am
Thanks for the tip, Nick; I’ll check out Circuit City’s price locally.
Who’re Nick and Jessica, and what did they do to deserve a variety hour?
August 17th, 2004 at 10:18 am
WHO’S THAT KNOCKING AT MY DOOR? is Scorsese’s first, independent feature film. It doesn’t have a great rep, but I’m picking it up anyway as part of the super-cool, ultra-scheap Scorsese box set, which also includes the aforementioned GOODFELLAS, plus MEAN STREETS (Scorsese’s first “real” film, and the model for a lot of lean, character-driven crime pictures to follow, including Tarantino’s), ALICE DOESN’T LIVE HERE ANYMORE (inspiration for the sitcom, but much tougher-minded) and AFTER HOURS (a classic ’80s black comedy that I must’ve watched about a dozen times in high school).
August 17th, 2004 at 10:39 am
WHO’S THAT KNOCKING AT MY DOOR? is also the screen debut of Harvey Keitel, for what it’s worth.
On, and Lateline is worth watching for yet another nicely sleazy performance by Miguel Ferrer.
August 17th, 2004 at 1:45 pm
You can check out my review of the Nick and Jessica Variety Hour at DVDTalk. I’m telling ya, that DVD is a pepper!!!
August 17th, 2004 at 3:46 pm
Nick, what was DUEL about?
August 17th, 2004 at 5:42 pm
Don’t mean to speak for Nick, but DUEL is one of the greatest tv movies EVER made. It’s the ultimate road rage flick and was directed by a young Steven Spielberg. There’s even some nice foreshadowing for some of the visual/audio tricks he used later in JAWS and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS. Dennis Weaver stars as a guy driving a Datsun (?) who passes a menacing semi and honks his horn. The rest of the movie is the semi terrorizing Weaver through the lonely Southwest desert highways. TBS and WGN used to rerun it a lot in the late 80s-early 90s, but I haven’t seen it on those channels lately. DVD has been promised for years, but kept getting pulled back at the last minute. I’ll believe it when I see it.
August 17th, 2004 at 11:41 pm
Great synopsis, Jeff. Much better than I could have done, since I’ve NEVER SEEN IT!! I like buying movies sight unseen. Adds a bit of risk to it. Of course, I won’t be watching it today, since Circuit City didn’t have it! They had it advertised, but never received their stock and don’t know when they’ll get it in! I’d be more forgiving, but that’s the third time in two months that they haven’t stocked something properly that they’ve either newly advertised, or that their computer shows as being in stock! Has this happened to anyone else?
August 18th, 2004 at 9:17 am
The Best Buy and Circuit City in my town are notorious for not stocking new releases the week they’re released. They’re usually two weeks late on all MST3K dvds. I’ve had to start ordering those off the Internet since we don’t have a Suncoast in town.
August 18th, 2004 at 7:41 pm
Actually, Augie, Franken’s radio show has now spawned a cable TV show, so it’s obviously doing well enough.
Not that I’ve listened to it, but still.
August 19th, 2004 at 7:45 am
I had the exact opposite experience at a Circuit City on Wednesday. A British band I like, Incognito, released a new CD this week, but they aren’t as popular in the US as they once were, so their CDs are not carried in most stores.
I thought of ordering it through Amazon, but they are charging $18 for the CD. Circuit City is selling it on their website for $14, with free shipping, but when I tried to order, the website glitched and wouldn’t allow it. So I decided to go pick it up in person at the local Circuit City (even though the store price was a dollar higher than the web price, but when I searched the website, it said no store within 75 miles had the CD in stock.
Well, I went to the local CC, I found two copies of the CD in stock. And $1 cheaper than the in-store price listed on their website. Just goes to show, you can’t trust what you see on the Circuit City website.
August 19th, 2004 at 10:54 am
Jody – Nick and Jessica are Mr. and Mrs. Jessica Simpson, stars of MTV’s popular “The Newlyweds” reality show. They tried to do their best Sonny and Cher impression for ABC on Easter and it did well in the ratings. ABC has ordered a few more. I think the next is due out for Christmas time. I fast forwarded through most of it, though I really did like the Jewel duet. Everything else was painful, but family friendly.
Jeff – My Best Buy does the same thing with the non-major releases. Occasionally, you’ll have to wait an extra week or two for something like the MST3K boxed sets. Overall, though, it’s worked out well for me. That said, Amazon.com still had this week’s B5 release on sale for $5 cheaper than Best Buy (and free shipping, too).
Kyle – Yeah, the show is on the Sundance Channel overnight. You can’t possibly be any more margianalized and still be on television. Air America has missed payrolls, uses radio amateurs who bang their microphones, lost a station due to payment issues, lost executives, and gambled their entire operation on one thing: Anybody But Bush. Hell, even this television deal is only through November. Great short term thinking there.