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New MST3K DVD set XIV prompts soul-searching - February 4th, 2009

How do I love thee, Mystery Science Theater 3000? Let me count the ways. But perhaps chief among them — besides the sheer fact that it makes me laugh — is that I relate.

Yes, I relate to being a captive audience watching movies I’d rather not see. And that’s because for roughly three decades I was a professional film critic for daily newspapers in Texas and Oklahoma, most recently at the Houston Chronicle. And when you see virtually all movies, you see plenty of bad movies — or at least insufferably mundane ones. So yes, I relate to those immortal words in MST3K’s theme song: “They make him watch movies — the worst they can find.” Or, as my wife likes to say, I watch movies so she — or you — won’t have to. Or, as I like to say, I’ve seen more bad movies than you’ve had hot meals.

Of course, the only way to digest such fetid fare is either to rail against it in a darkly amusing review — as I was wont to do — or to snarkily attack it with quips, as MST3K’s crew always liked to do. And now they’re still doing it via DVD, thanks to today’s launch of Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XIV from Shout! Factory. With this release, that label is nobly maintaining the box set numbering from when the show was first DVD-driven by Rhino, making last year’s 20th anniversary box set, the first from Shout!, in effect Volume XIII (as long as we’re using a Super Bowl — er, Roman numeral — counting system).

This 14th volume (so there!) sports four all-new-to-DVD discs with some of the better episodes from MST’s 10-season run: Soultaker, Final Justice, Manhunt in Space and Mad Monster. It’s also got some fun if not overly long extras.

Two are recent interviews with those responsible for two of the films. There’s “star” Joe Estevez in a five-minute reflection on his soggy Soultaker, and writer-director Greydon Clark in a four-minute take on his lumbering, Malta-Meets-Stereotypical-Texan Final Justice, starring his old pal, Joe Don Baker. We also see an amusing three-minute portion of MST’s cameo on ESPN’s Cheap Seats, which I happened to catch at the time in 2005. Significantly, this appearance marked a fleeting semi-revival of the show, since it aired six years after MST was canceled.

Estevez’s segment is the most weirdly entertaining, as the 58-year-old actor reflects on the low-rent horror shoot in Mobile, AL for 1990 release Soultaker. Back then, he claims, “we were all young kids.” Well, he was 40 or pushing it at the time, but he certainly looked younger than he does now.

Like Clark, Estevez  answers how he feels about being mocked on MST, and unlike Clark, who seems to grudgingly tolerate it for the exposure it lends, Estevez considers it “an honor.” As they say, any publicity is better than no publicity, and when your brother (Martin Sheen) and nephews (Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez) are far more famous, you take what you can get.

You’re right, Joe. Good attitude. But after seeing so many bad movies in my career — including Soultaker — I must disagree with you that Soultaker is “scary” or “magical” or of any value apart from evoking a nostalgic ’80s residue like hairspray stains on the hero’s flashy shirt. Then again, this lack of magic is precisely why we watch movies via MST, while Joel or Mike and their ‘bots comfort us with their comic carping.

In fact, is there any better way to see a film, unless it’s truly artful and great? I think not. Besides, with MST no one is “making” us watch bad movies. No, in its own special, weird and warped context, we want to watch — not despite but because they star folks like Joe Estevez.

And so, even apart from RiffTrax, the Film Crew, live shows and the like, MST’s merry movie mocking bunch still lives on via good old digital discs. So thanks again, Shout! Factory, for keeping that flame burning. And as Pearl Forrester would say when receiving her ill-earned medals for heroism from Brain Guy, “Keep ‘em coming.”

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Oscar snubs to ‘Dark Knight’ and ‘WALL-E’ show show business as usual

Despite USA Today’s brave forecast that The Dark Knight would be best-picture nominated — that Oscar voters would finally see the light and meld their films’ alleged “we love the world” populism to their own  awards choices — such was not the case when noms were announced.
Again, smash-hit popular entertainment got little respect. And what [...]

‘Donna Reed Show’ DVD is reassuring TV ‘comfort food’

So, how do I reconcile being a fan of current shows as subversive or edgy as South Park, The Simpsons and Boston Legal as well as sweet family sitcoms from olden times such as Leave It to Beaver and The Donna Reed Show, whose first season is new on DVD? Simple: I’m eclectic, I’m a  [...]

‘Outer Limits’ full-series DVD box is TV at its best - October 21st, 2008

Stephen King once wrote that the original 1963-65 The Outer Limits was “the best program of its type ever to air on network TV.” I couldn’t agree more. But what is The Outer Limits’ “type”?

Returning to DVD today from MGM in a handsome full-series box set of 49 episodes, The Outer Limits was an anthology science-fiction show, albeit with hearty doses of gothic dread and monstrous horror. That stance, in itself, doesn’t make it a classic. Yet even with the limitations of meager budgets and no strong network track record for sci-fi — a marginal genre at the time — The Outer Limits did, indeed, push the limits of imaginative, thought-provoking entertainment in an “exploitation” genre, and has ultimately revealed itself as a monumental achievement.

Introduced by a “Control Voice,” story after story produced intriguing, insightful looks at humans –  often scientists — whose thirst for knowledge led them to expand horizons — sometimes in the form of alien contact — while learning that such progress rarely comes without a price.

Though The Outer Limits was a humanistic show, full of compassion for our small selves on a fragile planet, such humanism also extended to many of its aliens, who weren’t evil bug-eyed fiends but wise and peaceful explorers (”The Galaxy Being,” “The Bellero Shield”). It also taught lessons in enlightenment, as with the masterful tale of rapid human evolution called “The Sixth Finger.”

The series was blessed with outstanding creative work in almost every department, starting with the scripts written or overseen by producers Joe Stefano (Psycho) and Leslie Stevens. Outer Limits writers included future Oscar-winner Robert Towne (Chinatown) who wrote “The Chameleon” episode and sci-fi stalwart Harlan Ellison, whose acclaimed “Soldier” and “Demon With a Glass Hand” scripts informed The Terminator so much that he successfully sued for credit.

Outer Limits casts were incredible for network TV, from Cliff Robertson, Robert Duvall, Carroll O’Connor, Martin Landau and Robert Culp to Sally Kellerman, Vera Miles, Martin Sheen, Bruce Dern and Edward Asner. That’s not to mention future Star Trek stars William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and James Doohan.

Much of season one’s cinematography was by another future Oscar winner, Conrad Hall, whose use of handheld cameras, available light, creative framing and stark shadows was unprecedented for TV at this time. Too, the melodic and memorable first-season music by Dominic Frontiere was haunting, eerily beautiful and inspiring. And special effects, though done cheaply, could be striking and innovative.

Unfortunately, ABC killed the show in Season Two, giving it an unfriendly time slot and finishing it off at mid-season. The Outer Limits wound up with 32 first-season episodes and 17 in the second season, but that total of 49 is a full two seasons’ worth by today’s standards. And the franchise’s renewed life years later as a Showtime series (which remade several ’60s plots) has helped cement its status not just as a fleeting aberration amid a TVscape littered by slight sitcoms and “doctor” shows and recalled fondly only by aging Baby Boomers, but as a lasting phenomenon whose sheer artistry has made it more timeless and impressive than any other series of its day — and of any “type.”

Personal favorite episodes? Mine start with one which melds sci-fi trappings to a sheer “beauty and the beast” fairy tale, “The Man Who Was Never Born.” But Culp’s three episodes also are outstanding, from the horrific romantic tragedies of “The Architects of Fear” and “Corpus Earthling” — two of Outer Limits’ scariest yet most emotional stories — to Ellison’s time-tripping “Demon With a Glass Hand,” set largely in the wrought-iron interior of the Bradbury Building, which I’ve had the privilege to visit in downtown Los Angeles. (Blade Runner also shot there.)

Landau’s “The Bellero Shield” is a remarkable Shakespearean spin on ambition corrupting science, while rich gothic horror awaits in “The Guests” and “Don’t Open Till Doomsday.” And David McCallum played perhaps the greatest character arc any actor can claim in the rapid evolutionary tale of “The Sixth Finger.”

I could go on — there’s much more — but suffice it to say that King was right. This is TV at its finest — and often most cinematic — from an era when no other program challenged viewers and challenged itself with such ardent and inspirational creativity. A true treasure trove awaits you. Enjoy.

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‘Icons of Horror’ DVD puts the Hammer down for creepy chills - October 15th, 2008

While I did grow up with some creepy Hammer horror experiences (The Brides of Dracula, anyone?), and I do revere horror as a genre, I’m no student or fanboy of the Hammer brand, though I respect it. Back then, the veddy British aspect just threw me a bit. I was used to all-Amurhican heroes like John Wayne, not thin, erudite champions like vampire hunter Peter Cushing.

But some of my best buds looove these movies, and they are, in a word, excited about Sony’s new release of Icons of Horror: Hammer Films, a two-disc set featuring four lesser known Hammer flicks previously unavailable on DVD. They are: The Gorgon, The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb, The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll and Scream of Fear.

Now, these aren’t horror classics. They aren’t The Exorcist. But they are creepy, chilling entertainments from a British studio which consistently showed respectful devotion to horror as a legitimate genre, not just a form of box office exploitation (and hey, if you can achieve both, then so much the better).

The discs have no extras, apart from theatrical trailers, but print quality is largely high. Bottom line: These flicks now flicker in the digital world — which makes them more accessible and, in a way, permanent.

As I understand, with this release, the only Hammer horror film not yet on DVD is 1959’s The Man Who Could Cheat Death. Completists, your day is coming. Until then, hop aboard the Hammer horror express and enjoy these October-worthy rides. Though they aren’t Hammer’s best, they are Hammer — and isn’t that enough?

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‘Rocky Horror Tribute Show’ aglow in nostalgia - October 14th, 2008

When you’ve got a soft spot in your heart for the twisted sci-fi, rock ‘n’ roll grandiosity of Rocky Horror — as I do — and when you’ve seen the movie too many times to count, then it’s hard to resist its evolution and evocation. That includes the uneven but often worthwhile Richard O’Brien’s Rocky Horror Tribue Show, new on DVD today from Kultur.

Actually, the concert-style show isn’t exactly “new.” It was performed and recorded at an intimate but lively theater more than two years ago, to mark the 50th anniversary of the English Stage Company. O’Brien, the stage show’s original writer and Riff Raff, returns to perform briefly, and other Rocky Horror veterans popping up include Patricia Quinn and Little Nell.

But mostly the music is performed by various people who have moved in and out of Rocky Horror’s stage universe over the years — and they’re a mixed lot.

As Dr. Frank, Anthony Head is more of a singer than an actor, but Michael Ball, in the same role, is both, and he’s better in my book. Jo Farrell’s Janet also excels with Touch-a Touch-a Touch Me, and the Time Warp Reprise is an energized full-cast kick.

O’Brien has written some shrewd new narration which advances the plot when read by various actors and sets up the next song. I just wish the song performances had more theatricality and less standing in front of the mic. It’s not that hard to show a little more life, which some do, and others don’t. Even so, ya got me — I love this material, and it’s great to hear it in a loving atmosphere like this.

The no-frills disc has no extras — not even menus — but simply starts playing when loaded. It runs just over an hour, and for much of that time you should be richly entertained if you’re a fan of the show. And if not? Well, to paraphrase Frank, they didn’t make it for you.

No, this is for the many of us who love Rocky Horror and luxuriate in the exquisite pleasure of its  nostalgic glow. In fact, the DVD has me singing all those old songs again. Now if only I could teach my kitty that it’s just a jump to the left. Come on — is that so hard?

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‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’ DVD is a mixed bag - October 13th, 2008

If you, like me, are an ardent fan of the original Raiders of the Lost Ark and the ensuing Indiana Jones franchise — with all its ups and downs — then Tuesday’s DVD release from Paramount of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull presents a dilemma.

Are you honest with yourself, and everyone else, by acknowledging that this is the weakest entry in the now four-film series (not counting the superb Young Indiana Jones TV series)? And if so, do you side with South Park’s Trey Parker and Matt Stone, whose “The China Problem” episode last week cast director Steven Spielberg and producer George Lucas in the metaphorical light of being Indy’s greedy, product-driven “rapists”?

Or do you seek silver linings on the new two-disc DVD, from its lavish special features (with great making-of material) to the fact that the film opens with the one of the best sustained action sequences in recent memory? In short, do you cut slack for Stevie and George — not to mention now retirement-age Harrison Ford as Indy?

My attitude is somewhere in the middle, which is not to say it’s a muddle. It’s simply a mixed bag.

I truly believe that Indy’s time has come and gone, and that this film is a shaky evocation of superior efforts from up to a quarter-century ago. But I also believe Spielberg is one of our finest directors, and it wasn’t his fault that Lucas (as writer of Crystal Skull’s story) delivered yet another murky plot about rivals seeking to get a thing from a place in a big hurry — or something. And who are all these people and why should we care?

I swear, Indy 4 was as plot-challenged as any Star Wars prequel — and for much the same reasons. I was half-way expecting a subplot about Trade Federation blockades or complex senate votes.

Then again, give the film credit for its women, from Cate Blanchett as a stylish yet deadpan serious Soviet bad bongo battling Indy for possession of the thing, to Karen Allen — are you kidding me? — who amazingly returns as Indy’s old (like him) love interest from the first film.

Women in Hollywood just aren’t allowed to do this sort of thing when they no longer look so pretty or young or glamorous. But here’s spunky Allen, bless her, and it’s utterly grand that Indy 4 went against the sexist grain to give her another shot.

On the other hand, the film overcompensates for Indy’s advanced age by making him gallingly indestructible, when it was Indy’s vulnerability — even when much younger — which made him so endearing in the first place. And please, the story goes absolutely nowhere, including Indy’s banal relationship with the biker boy played by Shia LaBeouf, whose name added marquee value and a bit of youthful heat, but who was as miscast as anyone I’ve seen in any recent movie. (Note to Lucas: Working out your daddy issues already had become gratingly monotonous 20 years ago. Think of something else.)

But back to those silver linings: This film also bristles with bold and grand action sequences, and its whiff of nostalgia is more enticing than stale. And on DVD, at least, you can break up its leaden plot with an intermission, which I could have used in the theater.

Hey, I love Indiana Jones. I just didn’t love this movie. But the bottom line is I’d rather it exist than that it never be made. And if that makes me a fanboy — albeit one who avoids the gushy mindset of blind adoration — then so be it. Some of us criticize because we care.

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‘Sleeping Beauty’ DVD shows gorgeous end to a Disney era - October 9th, 2008

Like the city in which I live, Houston, I’m no traditionalist. I believe in progress, modernity, pushing forward and the future, whether it’s into space or any other endeavor. And that’s why, though I’m a longtime animation fan and adore classic Disney work, I quickly embraced the shift to computer animation, even though it meant the eclipse of hand-drawn work. After all, if it works, it works. And nothing has to be done the same way forever. Progress counts.

But that said, I’m heartened to see the immaculate reissue of Disney’s 1959 masterpiece, Sleeping Beauty, on DVD.

This romantic, exciting film pushed the limits as far as Disney could take them in terms of hand-drawn animation for that time. Not only was it lovely and lavish, with a strong  — and dark — fairy tale story, but it also was produced and exhibited in 70mm in theaters, for a superwide 2:55 to 1 aspect ratio.

That’s the way Sleeping Beauty should be seen, and that’s the way it can be seen on Disney’s new two-disc Platinum Edition (and, to be fair, on its original 2003 Special Edition DVD, now out of print, which also offered a full-screen option).

The story, of course, involves lovable royals in a magical kingdom, including the radiant Princess Aurora, whose beloved is Prince Phillip. The wicked Maleficent casts a spell on Aurora which causes her to enter a timeless sleep, from which Phillip must rescue her, with the help of three tiny fairies.

The film has one spectacular battle scene between Phillip and a dragon (Maleficent in monstrous reptilian form). It also has lovely music from Tchaikovsky, no less, and dazzling creativity  for its elaborate, painstaking animation.

Sleeping Beauty is truly a state-of-the-art picture for the end of Disney’s first golden era of animation, soon followed by more modernized films such as 101 Dalmatians. Much of its creation and history you can learn from intriguing making-of materials on Disc 2.

BTW, the commanding voice of Maleficent is by Eleanor Audley, an actress who also was known for many on-screen roles, unlike some voice actors for classic Disney films. In Audley’s case, you may have seen her as the sternly disapproving mother of Edward Albert’s lawyer-turned-farmer character on Green Acres. Often playing a haughty society grand dame, she also appeared in many other sitcoms of the era, from McHale’s Navy, The Beverly Hillbillies and The Dick Van Dyke Show to My Three Sons, Hazel and Mister Ed.

But it was voice work as villainesses that supplied two of her greatest roles. Before Maleficent, Audley voiced the character of the cruel stepmother in Disney’s Cinderella — one of the best Disney’s villains ever (and that’s saying quite a lot).

In short, if classic Disney films scare you — and many of them should — chances are you’ve felt a chill from the imperious, sinister tones of Eleanor Audley’s rich voice. Yes, great animation goes a long way, but great voice talent also makes a huge difference. And until or unless computerized voices are perfected, that’s one artistry which won’t subside in the name of “progress.”

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‘Cult of Cartman’ DVD is for true believers - October 8th, 2008

I confess: I am a member of the Cult of Cartman.

I know — he’s a monster. Yet I love him. And why? Because he’s strong, confident and honest about his utter self-absorption and wanton hedonism — not to mention his many prejudices.

Sure, he’s wrong, wrong, WRONG about so many things. But hey — he’s a fourth-grade kid! Give him time. Surely little Eric Cartman will grow up to be a touchy-feely tree-hugging do-gooder who  escorts little old ladies across the street. This is just a high-spirited phase he’s going through.

But what a phase — and what a collection it gets in The Cult of Cartman, a two-disc set new on DVD from Paramount. Housed in a box designed to look like a Bible, it includes 12 of the best Cartman episodes of South Park, along with a billfold-sized membership card and a decal. Cartman also appears in new footage to introduce the episodes, three of which (from the latest season) are new to DVD.

I’m not sure why no Cartman episodes from Seasons 1-4 are featured, especially since those include some of the best, starting with Season 1’s “Cartman Gets an Anal Probe.” But with so much masterful mayhem from which to choose, some great shows will be left out from any season, such as the utterly twisted “Fat Butt and Pancake Head” from Season 7.

At any rate, it’s good to see our hero — antihero? — get his due. And he’ll get even more tonight, I understand, with the new South Park episode “The China Problem.”

Problem? Our delightful little Cartman? Lighten up! How can you not like a tyke? And besides, it’s all just a phase he’s going through — you know, like reading comics or collecting trading cards. He’ll grow up one day, surely.

Or will he?

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‘Beverly Hillbillies,’ ‘Smothers Brothers’ erratic but welcome on DVD - October 6th, 2008

I suppose vintage TV fans should be grateful for whatever they can get, especially since so many older shows aren’t available anywhere on cable. But I must admit I’m confused.

First, we find The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour: The Best of Season 3. Only trouble is, there’s no Season 1 or Season 2 DVD release. Reportedly Time Life still plans to release such sets for the first two seasons, just not in sequence. Presumably there were problems clearing music rights or some other snag.

But for now, it’s fantastic having 11 episodes from the third and final season of this cheeky, challenging and magnificent show. I just wish there were more of the brothers’ recorded output on CD. So far I’ve only found a Rhino collection which just scratches the surface.

Back to DVD, this week brings another numbering oddity with Paramount’s release of The Beverly Hillbillies: The Official Second Season. But there’s been no such release of the first season. In fact, the closest we’ve come so far have been MPI’s releases of The Beverly Hillbillies Ultimate Collection, Volumes 1 and 2. In those sets, season one spilled over into Volume 2, which then added 18 episodes from season two, along with a number of worthwhile extra features. So Paramount’s new release has many episodes that are new to DVD.

While it’s good to see this “official” release of a beloved show in full-season form, one does wonder when or if the entire first season will be sold in such a way, not to mention seasons after the second one. Not that continuity is a big problem in the world of the oil-rich bumpkins.

Again, we take what we can get, and for now I’m happy to hunker down by the cement pond and watch Buddy Ebsen’s Jed and family make a mess out of a perfectly nice So Cal neighborhood with their backwoods ways.

While so many folksy rural shows of the ’60s (Green Acres, Petticoat Junction) were about the quaintness of the sticks, The Beverly Hillbillies was about hicks from the sticks being in the city which, for me, is much preferable. I’m a city boy at heart and have spent much time in Beverly Hills, and I can just imagine how wealthy hillbillies would impact that community. It’s a great premise with a great cast, and it gets more mileage from its comic culture shock than shows where it’s the city folks who go country. The Beverly Hillbillies even had the authenticity of actually being shot in So Cal.

So pull up a rocking chair and sit a spell. And as Tom Servo would say in Granny drag on Mystery Science Theater 3000, “Jeddddd!”

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