Jason Bailey
Every Tuesday, discriminating viewers are confronted with a flurry of choices: new releases on disc and on demand, vintage and original movies on any number of streaming platforms, catalogue titles making a splash on Blu-ray or 4K. This twice-monthly column sifts through all of those choices to pluck out the movies most worth your time, no matter how you’re watching.
PICK OF THE WEEK:
The Complete Story of Film: When The Story of Film: An Odyssey, the first iteration this UK docu-miniseries quietly popped up on Netflix a few years back (after runs at the Toronto International Film Festival and the Museum of Modern Art), it quickly became a must-see for movie buffs; sure, we’d seen plenty of comprehensive film documentaries before, but nothing with the scope, worldwide breadth, and insight on display here. Music Box Films’ essential new Blu-ray set adds on the two-part follow-up series The Story of Film: A New Generation, and it’s a high compliment to say it’s more of the same, as director/narrator Mark Cousins makes unexpected connections and thrilling discoveries while surveying world cinema from its origins up to the present day, with an academic’s intelligence and a fan’s enthusiasm.
ON HULU:
Amsterdam: David O. Russell’s first feature in seven years landed with a rather loud belly-flop last fall, but it’s considerably better than its reputation or receipts – particularly once one tunes in to its rather peculiar wavelength. Christian Bale (doing his best Al Pacino), Margot Robbie, and John David Washington gets a real Bande à part thing going as a motley trio of old pals who get mixed up in a messy mystery concerning murder, fascists, and a quiet coup. It takes a while to find its footing, and Russell’s unsteady pacing (particularly in the screwball sections) does it no favors. But the narrative is surprisingly timely (and historically accurate), Robbie is dynamite, and there’s something genuinely entertaining about its parade-of-stars casting. It’s not Russell’s best effort, to be sure, but it’s certainly not his worst.
ON BLU-RAY / DVD / VOD:
You Hurt My Feelings: A decade after their career-highlight collaboration with Enough Said, writer/director Nicole Holofcener and producer/star Julia Louis-Dreyfus reteam for another story of a somewhat neurotic woman struggling with information she wishes she didn’t have. This time around, JLD is a writer who accidentally overhears her seemingly supportive spouse (Tobias Menzes) trashing her latest book, and subsequently finds herself questioning everything about her marriage—and her life. That’s heady subject matter, but Holofcener exhibits the right, light touch to the material, speaking to universal truths in a manner both wildly funny and undeniably identifiable. (Includes audio commentary and featurette.)
ON 4K:
Weird Science: John Hughes’s 1985 sci-fi comedy gets the 4K treatment from Arrow Video, and deserves it; this is one of the filmmaker’s trickiest balancing acts, taking what could’ve been a very typical drooly ‘80s sex comedy premise (two computer nerds use their skills to literally create a woman who’ll love them), but moving past the leering, easy jokes and into something altogether smarter, wiser, and funnier. Anthony Michael-Hall and Ilan Mitchell-Smith are spot-on as the nerds in question, but the picture’s strength is in its support: Kelly LeBrock is slyly funny as “Lisa,” their creation, while Bill Paxton creates one of the most memorable (and identifiable) villains of the era as the big, dumb, bullying “Chet.” (Includes extended and TV versions, additional scenes, new and archival featurettes, interviews, trailers, and TV and radio spots.)
The Nightmare Before Christmas: Disney’s 1993 stop-motion comedy/musical (out on 4K for the first time) is still often referred to as Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, which is both inaccurate and misleading; it makes people think Burton directed (he wrote the story and co-produced), minimizing the considerable achievements of the film’s actual director, the great Henry Selick (Coraline). Whatever the case, Nightmare remains a delight, and not just for ‘90s goth kids; the animation is inventive, the songs (by Burton’s frequent partner Danny Elfman) are memorable, the characters are fully realized, and the sensibility is delightfully dark—particularly when arriving at the climax, and its rich comic buffet of a Christmas nearly ruined by creepy creatures. (Includes audio commentary, deleted scenes, featurettes, and sing-along version.)
Showgirls: I’ll admit, the Nomi Hive has not turned me yet—I saw Paul Verhoeven’s Vegas sex epic opening weekend and simply cannot go along with the revisionist view that a script this obviously, comically terrible is somehow “in on the joke,” and while I want to believe that Verhoeven is, the evidence onscreen is mighty thin. What is worth embracing, with the film itself this far in the rearview, is the notion that we truly lost something worth having when this kind of unapologetic sleaze disappeared from the slates of major studios; Vinegar Syndrome’s 4K restoration and presentation (newly available on Amazon) underscores the sheer filmmaking craft on display here, and say what you will about the picture’s flaws, it’s never, ever dull. (Includes audio commentary, interviews, featurettes, and trailer.)
Gorgo: VS’s 4K presentation of this 1961 monster movie is an absolute blast, on its surface a UK-US-Irish Godzilla ripoff, but infused with the conventions of the respectable international adventure film its pedigree suggests. In other words, there are lots of men making slightly tense announcements like “The creature’s got through!” in clipped British accents, as a pair of treasure hunters discover and capture the title monster and attempt to put him on public display in London (so they are, shall we say, paying homage to King Kong as well). The 4K scan really brings out the phoniness of the effects, but who cares; it’s an under-80 minute movie where you get to watch a giant reptile monster stomp through Piccadilly Circus and take down Big Ben. That’s cinema, baby! (Includes audio commentary, isolated music and effects track, featurettes, interviews, trailers, and video comic book.)
Undefeatable: This 1993 mash-up of street fighting flick and serial killer thriller features Cynthia Rothrock as a waitress who fights for cash to make ends meet, and uses her access to that world to help a police detective (John Miller) track down the underground fighter who killed her sister. Rothrock is absolute fire, thrilling in her fight scenes and charismatic elsewhere, though the rest of the acting is, to be charitable, not up to her level; Miller is a bit of a charisma void, while Don Niam is ridiculous as the mulleted villain. But Rothrock’s personality and brawling acumen hold it together, and the final kill is an A+. (Includes audio commentary, interviews, featurettes, and alternate Bloody Mary Killer cut with additional audio commentary.)
The Boogeyman: In its opening scenes, Uli Lommel’s 1980 slasher flick seems pretty bare-naked in its debt to Halloween, from the suburban setting to the first-person camera to the very young killer. (Lommel ladles in a few generous spoonfuls of The Exorcist later on, for good measure.) But Lommel is no rip-off artist; he’s got a real eye for crafting a dread-filled mood, upsetting imagery, and clever kills. And the acting is strong across the board, particularly from star Suzanna Love, who conveys her character’s considerable PTSD without veering into cartoon territory. (Includes audio commentaries, new and archival interviews, trailer, and TV spots.)
Night Screams: Real talk / full disclosure: this low-budget 1987 slasher was shot in my own hometown of Wichita, Kansas, so I’m inherently fascinated by the places and people I recognize from back home. Your own mileage may vary; the dialogue scenes are pretty weak, and the running-time-padding slice-ins (from the early-‘80s horror flick Final Exam and a forgotten softcore effort) grow increasingly bizarre. But the suspense beats work—director Allen Plone knows his stuff—and no one takes themselves too seriously. Plus, there’s an appearance by “the nationally famous Sweetheart Dancers”! (Includes audio commentary, feature-length making of documentary, original trailer, and pre-release cut.)
ON BLU-RAY:
Drylongso: In spite of what I’d always considered an exhaustive knowledge of the ‘90s indie scene, I’d never heard of Cauleen Smith’s 1998 slice-of-life drama—shot on 16mm with a shoestring budget in Oakland, California—before its addition to the Criterion Collection was announced a few months back. But this is the kind of discovery and showcase that labels with their cachet must do, because Drylongso is a real gem. Toby Smith is charismatic as a photography student struggling to figure out the particulars of her work, and her life; April Barnett is appropriately enigmatic as a passing stranger who becomes a confidante. The script (by Smith and Salim Akil) is fairly formulaic, but the modest performances and lived-in style make even the standard story points feel earned. (Includes Smith’s short films, new interview, and trailer.)
New Fist of Fury: Four years after directing Bruce Lee’s second starring vehicle, Fist of Fury (and three years after Lee’s death), Lo Wei directed this follow-up film as the first major release for his new star, Jackie Chan, whom he was trying to mold into the new Bruce Lee. The futility of the mission is clear right away; their personas are basically polar opposites, Lee a serious badass, Chan a slapstick clown. But that incongruity is mostly papered over by the tip-top supporting cast and Wei’s excellent fight scenes—as in his Lee films, and his later, looser Chan efforts, he varies the tempo, finds crisp compositions, and keeps the action wide enough for the viewer to properly appreciate the athleticism of his performers. (Includes audio commentary, featurette, and trailers.)
