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A four-disc box set of the "Indiana Jones" trilogy, the
rip-roaring tribute to the cliffhanger adventures of the 1930s and 1940s from
producer George Lucas and director Steven Spielberg, was released five years
ago. In anticipation of the upcoming " Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal
Skull," Paramount has prepared new editions of the films, available
separately or in a three-disc box set. Harrison Ford steps into the battered
fedora and leather jacket of the archaeologist adventurer in " Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981, renamed "Indiana Jones and
the Raiders of the Lost Ark"), a nostalgic trip through yesteryear thrills with
nonstop action, skin-of-the-teeth escapes, and a contemporary tongue-in-cheek
sense of humor. " Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" (1984) opens on a
veritable screwball musical number executed with all the energy of a classic
madcap comedy, then plunges Indy and company into an adventure through India
that takes them to a death cult that performs human sacrifices. It's a slapstick
adventure romp that has all the cultural sensitivity of its pre-WWII
inspirations. Sean Connery co-stars as Indy's father in " Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" (1989), an adventure
that takes them into the heart of the Third Reich (and a meeting with Hitler)
while racing the Nazis to find the Holy Grail of King Arthur. The all-new
supplements, created in conjunction with the upcoming fourth "Indiana Jones"
film, are more hors d'oeuvres than meaty meals. The new "Introductions" to each
film (each running under 10 minutes) feature interviews with Lucas and Spielberg
reminiscing over the origins and inspirations for each film. The best of the
short, brisk featurettes (all directed and produced by the talented Laurent
Bouzereau) explore "The Melting Face" from the first film ("It's pretty gory,
but I love that effect," confesses Spielberg) and the "Locations" of each film
(a zippy tour led by producer Robert Watts), and there are excerpts from a 2003
onstage interview with leading ladies Karen Allen, Kate Capshaw and Alison
Doody. Also includes storyboard-to-film comparisons of a key action scene from
each film and galleries of production stills and behind-the-scenes photos, but
not the feature length documentary "The Making of the Trilogy" or the archival
featurettes and deleted scenes from the earlier set. It's a fine set, but hardly
the definitive edition, which makes me wonder if there's yet another one in the
offing, perhaps when the fourth installment is released on DVD this
Christmas? |
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| The Classic Sci-Fi Ultimate Collection Volumes 1 & 2 |
The 10 films on this six-disc set collect some of the most
entertaining, and mostly minor, Universal sci-fi movies and creature features of
the '50s in a pair of digipaks. The star of the set is Jack Arnold's screen
adaptation of Richard Matheson's "The Incredible Shrinking Man" (1957). The
title is pulp but the story of a man who suddenly, inexplicably begins to grow
smaller after drifting through a radiation cloud is compassionate and
intelligent, a portrait of a man who becomes alienated from his own everyday
world as he changes. With its introspective tone and metaphysical dimensions,
it's one of the most thoughtful science fiction movies of its era. Arnold also
directs " Tarantula" (1955), one of the best of the giant monster movies
of the atomic age, and " Monster on the Campus" (1958), and he wrote the very strange
" The Monolith Monsters" (1957). The earliest film in the set,
" Dr. Cyclops" (1940), is a mad-scientist classic directed by
Ernest B. Schoedsack (of "King Kong" fame) and starring Albert Dekker (behind
Coke-bottle glasses) as the eccentric researcher who shrinks his fellow
scientists down to doll size. As for the rest of the set: John Agar takes on " The Mole People" (1956), Craig Stevens battles " The Deadly Mantis" (1957), Faith Domergue discovers " Cult of the Cobra" (1955), Jock Mahoney meets dinosaurs in " The Land Unknown" (1957), and Colleen Gray becomes " The Leech Woman" (1960). The two collections, originally
released separately as Best Buy exclusives, have been bundled together in a
slip-sleeve for this wide release. |
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| John Wayne: The Fox Westerns |
John Wayne jumped from bit player to leading man in Raoul
Walsh's "The Big Trail" (1930), an epic Western with Wayne as a young scout
leading a wagon train heading for Oregon while on his own mission of vengeance.
The film was not only one of the first epics of the sound era, but also a
pioneering wide-screen feature. Unfortunately, it flopped, which pretty much
ended both wide-screen and Wayne's stardom for many years. The two-disc set
features the DVD debut of the original wide-screen version (with commentary by
film historian/author Richard Schickel) and the previously available full-screen
version. Also includes featurettes on Wayne, director Walsh, the Grandeur
process, and the making of the film. The box set also features three previously
available Wayne pictures from late in his career: the knockabout gold rush
adventure " North to Alaska" (1960) with Stewart Granger, " The Comancheros" (1961) with Stuart Whitman, and " The Undefeated" (1969) with Rock Hudson, all in thinpak cases.
" The Big Trail" is also available in a separate two-disc edition
in a standard case. |
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| The Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly Collection |
The story of "On the Town" (1949) is so slim as to be almost
abstract -- singing sailors Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Jules Munshin
look for girls on 24-hour leave in the Big Apple -- but the movie is all
heart. This Technicolor fantasy of New York is painted in primary colors,
sculpted in high-energy choreography and softened in small-town romanticism.
It's one of the essential Hollywood musicals and the greatest of three
big-screen pairings between Hollywood's all-American hoofer and the Great
American Voice. In " Anchors Aweigh" (1945), their first teaming, eager beaver
Sinatra tags along with ladies man Kelly while on leave in Los Angeles and meets
Jose Iturbi while Kelly's womanizing is hampered by runaway orphan Dean
Stockwell (in his film debut). Sinatra croons "I Fall in Love Too Easy" and
Kelly dances with cartoon mouse Jerry (of "Tom and Jerry" fame) in the coy but
grand Technicolor extravaganza. " Take Me Out to the Ball Game" (1949) is a musical set in the
world of turn-of-the-century baseball, and co-stars Esther Williams as the
team's new owner. |
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| Frank Sinatra: The Golden Years |
Four Sinatra films of the '50s and '60s make their DVD
debut in this five-disc box set, but the most dynamic production is a new
release of Otto Preminger's controversial "The Man With the Golden Arm" (1955).
Sinatra is Frankie Machine, the former gambler and recovering heroin addict in
the Chicago slums pressured back into old habits by a neurotic wife (Eleanor
Parker) and an opportunistic dope peddler (Darren McGavin). His antsy
performance is one of his career best, earning him an Oscar nomination. The set
also features " The Tender Trap" (1955) with Debbie Reynolds; " Some Came Running" (1958) with Dean Martin and Shirley
MacLaine; " Marriage on the Rocks" (1965) with Deborah Kerr; and " None But the Brave" (1965), Sinatra's sole film as a director.
The companion set "Frank Sinatra: The Early Years" features some of his earliest
(and, frankly, his slightest) films: " Higher and Higher" (1943); " Step Lively" (1944); " It Happened in Brooklyn" (1947); " The Kissing Bandit" (1948), which even Sinatra claims is his
worst performance; and " Double Dynamite" (1951). The "Golden Years" box set is part of
the Frank Sinatra 10th Anniversary Collection. |
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In addition to his regular contributions to MSN Movies, Sean Axmaker is a
film critic for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and a DVD columnist for MSN
Entertainment, and a contributing writer to GreenCine.com, Turner Classic Movies
Online, and Asian Cult Cinema, among other publications.
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On the RocksWith 'Iron Man' and 'Hancock' featuring
heavy-drinking protagonists, we reflect on the most memorable drunks in movie
history UnclassicsThough they may be listed among the
greatest films of all time, these 10 movies deserve to be
downgraded Surveying Coen CountryAs 'No Country for Old
Men' arrives on DVD, we celebrate two of America's most original filmmaking
voices | |
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