What was the last movie you've seen?

[REPO Man]

As I said earlier, I rewatched Phantom of the Paradise, but couldn't post everything I wanted to say due to being on my iPod Touch.

There's a really great review over at The House of Self-Indulgence. And no, I'm not the blogger who runs it. I'm just into a lot of the movies reviewed there and even watched a few movies after reading Yum-Yum's reviews.

But I digress.


As earlier stated, I watched the 2-Disc Special Edition from France, which I watched on my recently acquired region-free DVD player with PAL/NTSC playback. I also bought The Tribe: Series One, but that's another long-winded post that 90% of you will just skip over.

Why did I spend $22 on the DVD and then another $50 just to play it? For starters, it's superior in every way to the Region 1 DVD from 20th Century Fox, which is OOP yet still readily available on Amazon.

For starter, the R1 version was taken from an inferior master. If you want some screenies, just ask. Just one person is all I need. For one, the R1 version is apparently a bit dirtier, while the transfer from the French DVD is much CLEANER.

Also, the R1 version only has the English audio, while the French DVD includes both French and English audio options, both in DTS Digital and Dolby 5.1, along with the English stereo.

Another point is the extras. The "trailer" on the R1 DVD is just a montage of random footage. The French DVD includes two trailers, which can be found here and here. It's also got the short documentary Paradise Regained, a faux ad for the Medicom action figure of the Phantom, a video postcard from costume designer Rosanna Norton, a short intro from Gerrit Graham (who played Beef; his other credits include Au Pair 3 and Star Trek: Voyager), and a video for the PotP-inspired "I Feel For You" by Bob Sinclair.

Aside from the Blu-Ray, also released by French company Opening, this is your best bet for a at-home Phantom of the Paradise experience.

The only downside is the lack of English subtitles for those who are hearing-impaired.

But what about the movie itself?

If you like De Palma and you haven't seen this, then you SUCK! It's not just a modern-day Phantom of the Opera, albeit speckled with Faust, Frankenstein and a nods to The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and the films of Alfred Hitchcock. It's a dark-humored satire of the music scene of the '70s, as well as a time capsule of the transition period between the Summer of Love and the Decade of Decadence, capturing the hedonistic spirit of both, while also possibly inspiring the eventual punk, new-wave, and goth movements of later years. It's also an auditory trip through time, courtesy of a rich score and set of musical numbers created by lilliputian '70s music mainstay/honorary Muppet Paul Williams. And with a cast including Williams himself (as eccentric rock genius Swan), William Finley (as naive yet talented songwriter/anger jockey Winslow Leach and his alterego The Phantom, in his second DePalma film, the first being Sisters), Gerrit Graham (as Beef, an effeminate hedonistic nutbag with wicked vanity and pointlessly glam fashion sense, not entirely unlike Adam Lambert), and in her first film role Jessica Harper (as the vocal-powerhouse Phoenix), the film gets better.

While often compared to Rocky Horror, it's another beast entirely.

And aside from Winnipeg, Phantom has fans the world over. Some of its fans include "Scott Pilgrim" director Edgar Wright and Donavan Leitch (Cutting Class, The Blob '88 remake, being the actor/musician son of folk rock musician Donovan), and even 20th Century Fox chairman Tom Rothman, who is also married to Jessica Harper.

And a quick plug for the Swan Archives to end my long-winded post.

[ilovesega]

Just saw tron legacy, started out ok.. i thought it might be somewhat decent. Had some nice 80s synth wave tracks and the colors of the suits and everything was nice to look at. Then it got boring ala avatar. Didint even finish it. Wasnt bad as a popcorn movie though. Until they tried to plug in some bizarre storyline.

[Jrecee]

Well I WAS about to watch The Professional, but it turns out my DVD is fullscreen. Fuck that.

That's what I get for waiting 3 years after buying movies to watch them.

[saturnfan]

TERROR OF MEGAGODZILLA

[Michi]

TERROR OF MEGAGODZILLA

[Betamax001]

Today I watched Wilde, the 1997 biopic of the witty and famous Oscar Wilde, starring the wonderful Stephen Fry as Oscar. It's just a simply fabulous movie, and quite tragic towards the end.

I also went to a local theater in Chicago to see Evangelion 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance, and it was epicccc. I saw it subbed a few months ago, and was sad to find out that tonight's showing was also subbed. I was really looking forward to the new English version that is coming out soon and hoping to see it on the big screen. (I don't have money to get the Blu Ray ) But it was fun. I met up with a girl I met and was skyping with (along with other people on that forum) on a local anime convention forum and it was fun.

[AppleQueso]

Corpse Bride - A neat premise and a pretty strong start, but it kinda pitters out towards the end and lacks a satisfying climax or conclusion. Kinda leaves you feeling underwhelmed when it's over. The songs are kinda unmemorable too...

It's not a bad movie or anything, it's very watchable and has some pretty nice moments (especially in the first half), but I don't think I could recommend it over a film like say, Coraline.

[Bradtemple87]

I really enjoyed the Corpse Bride for its visual style.

[Michi]

I really enjoyed the Corpse Bride for its visual style.

Agreed. I love the stop-motion imagery. Corpse Bride, Coraline, Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach are some of my favorite movies to watch just for the sake of the visuals.

I will say that I liked Coraline's story more than Corpse Bride, though. I think it was just that it felt a bit more suspenseful. Corpse Bride did slow down a bit in parts, but it didn't really bother me too much and I did enjoy the ending. It wasn't as climactic (I guess) as I'd hoped, but I thought it was a satisfying conclusion.

[Jrecee]

Watched Kick-Ass again. Still amazing.