| After holiday extravagances, not to mention guilt-abating donations to the Red Cross and other tsunami relief efforts, does anyone have enough money left over to buy cool DVDs? OK, you filthy rich creeps, the rest of us just hope our local video stores might be savvy enough to stock the following titles for the price of a $3 or $4 rental:
· The Cameraman’s Revenge & Other Fantastic Tales (Various years, Wladyslaw Starewicz, Image): Mind-altering puppet animation from cinematic pioneer and unsung genius Starewicz.
· Googoosh: Iran’s Daughter (2000, Farhad Zamani, First Run Features): Documentary exposé of the silencing of female Iranian pop superstar in 1979.
· The King of Kings (1927, Cecil B. DeMille, Criterion): Jesus is ready for his close-up, Mr. DeMille.
· Master of the Flying Guillotine: Anniversary Edition (1975, Yu Wang, Ventura): It’s a mean machine – cuts your head off clean! I doff my hat to the Video Vulture for bringing this kung-fu classic to my attention.
· Michael (1924, Carl Theodor Dreyer, Kino): Greek myth writ large in the full expressionistic grandeur of the great Danish master.
· Mourning Becomes Electra (1947, Dudley Nichols, Image): Epic U.S. Civil War drama based on classic play by Eugene O’Neill.
· Ray Harryhausen: Legendary Monsters Series (Columbia/TriStar): More mind-bending stop-motion animation in this five-disc set featuring Jason and the Argonauts, The 3 Worlds of Gulliver and Harryhausen’s Sinbad Trilogy.
· Sex in Chains (1928, William Dieterle, Kino): Uninhibited Weimar-era eroticism from Dieterle before he made his name in Hollywood as a talented German émigré.
· Time of the Wolf (2003, Michael Haneke, Palm Pictures): The latest cinematic assault from one of the most unrepentantly critical filmmakers working today.
· Un Chien Andalou (1929, Luis Buñuel-Salvador Dali, Facets): Slicin’ up eyeballs, woah-ho-ho-ho! This landmark surrealist film is paired with documentaries and other historical materials. |
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