Mercury Studios has just put out an impressively restored and expanded version of this oft-overlooked documentary and paired it with a live CD and LP, with never before released audio. Considering the band is showing no intentions of revisiting their brief 2007/2008 reunion, this may be the best Police fans can hope for nowadays. And in terms of consolation prizes, it’s pretty impressive. Around The World follows the trio on their first world tour in 1979-80.

Unlike later footage of the band nearing their end, all three members seem to actually enjoy each other’s company here and are seen joking throughout – especially in one of the most memorable segments when the band is in Japan and Sting and Stewart Copeland try and hype up a costumed Andy Summers who is about to Sumo wrestle a guy about twice his size. The between performance clips – with the members sightseeing, meeting fans, holding press conferences, and acting out skits (which are admittedly corny, but a little endearing) – are all pretty standard fare for ‘70s and ’80s music docs, but it’s the footage from the live sets that make the movie worth owning. Throughout the film the band performs “Walking On The Moon,” “Next To You” “Message In A Bottle” and “Born in the ‘50’s,” the last two of which are impressively covered.

The music companion to this set is flawless, with 11 live tracks recorded in Japan, Hong Kong, and England covering the band’s first three albums. This sets capture one of the greatest bands to come out of the 1980s just starting to gain global attention and at the point where they feel they still need to prove themselves to their audiences with each show. And it clearly shows here.

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Just in time to get reacquainted before the new season of Cobra Kai drops (and, of course, Christmas), the new 4K Ultra HD box set, The Karate Kid Collection, is a must have for all 80s kids of all ages. Packed with special features and newly remastered, it’s enough to inspire everyone who ever spent their afternoons practicing crane kicks on the playground with their friends to want to break out their gi and pretend once more to be a karate master.

It’s not difficult to get why the appeal of this series has lasted as long as it has (we’re getting dangerously close to the 40^th anniversary of the first film’s release) and the new presentation ensures that the legacy of The Karate Kid will endure for another generation. It also gives us a chance to revisit and reevaluate the divisive third movie which, while still being the worst of the three, does serve bring a new angle to Daniel-san’s journey in addition to providing the context for the next season of Cobra Kai (which is slated to bring back Thomas Ian Griffin’s villainous Terry Silver).

Watching today, you’d expect for the films themselves to feel dated. After all, they were released to capitalize on the Karate trend that was taking the country by storm in the 1980s. Yet the screenplays from writer Robert Mark Kamen prove to remain strong even considering how much the world has changed since the first film was released in 1984. The language of adolescence remains constant and Kamen has crafted an enduring coming of age story that works as well today as it ever has.

That’s, of course, because Karate is merely the wrapping for what is, at its core, one of the best cinematic bildungsromans ever made. The films endure because Daniel (Ralph Macchio) and Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) and their relationship are so well-written that it’s almost impossible not to be drawn into their spiritual father and son story. Even as the film drop in quality, that core relationship is enough to inspire no matter what era the films are viewed in.

Loaded with special features, The Karate Kid Collection (which does not include the Hilary Swank starring The Next Karate Kid) offers plenty of behind the scenes and additional featurettes to take you deep inside the world of the story and provides new insights into the lasting legacy of the film. Perfect for the 80s man-child in your life, or just lovers of film in general, The Karate Kid Collection proves just how timeless this series actually is. The Karate Kid Collection is now available to own.

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My stepchild was obsessed with Avatar almost from the first moment I met them. One of the first few times I met them they asked me if I’d seen it and looked disheartened when I told them I had not. “That’s for kids,” I tried to explain, much to their disappointment. That was a misapprehension I held for eight years before I finally agreed to sit down and partake in their annual Avatar/Korra rewatch earlier this year. As it turns out, I was right but, also, so were they.

Yes, both Avatar: The Last Airbender and its sequel series, The Legend of Korra, are, strictly speaking, “for kids.” This is true. What I discovered, however, is that, in the grand tradition of children’s cartoons, they’re both so much richer than I had given them credit for. 

The Ultimate Aang & Korra Collection, out today on Blu-ray, is a great gift for families or for young adults who grew up watching the series and don’t already own the collections. As it stands, this set is merely a repackaging of the previously collected individual series, making it less necessary for anyone who already owns both previous sets. That said, anyone who has put off purchasing them now has the perfect excuse to add them to their home movie collection.

That said, the new packaging is gorgeous, even if the box is merely a newly printed way to hold both the previous collected editions. Additionally, it does come with a new bonus disc that features an exploration of the Avatar universe with series creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko as well as a conversation between series stars Janet Varney and Dante Brasco. 

Beyond that, however, everything else is simply the previous two collected editions. Which of course includes all the bonus features and commentary tracks they were previously loaded with. All in all, it’s not a bad collection, but the new set offers nothing for fans who already own both series.

As disappointing as that is, it’s nice to be able to own both Avatar and Korra with only a single purchase. And with Christmas coming up it’s not only a great gift but also the perfect time to gather the family around for some quality and wholesome entertainment that digs a lot deeper than you might think. Both Aang and Korra serve as delightful role models for kids (and, really, understanding those characters goes a long way towards understanding the newer generation) and its easy to see why the series has endured for as long as it can.

With the upcoming Netflix live action adaptation of Avatar, now really is a great time to catch up on what might be the biggest television release of 2022. If you’re like me and dismissed it as just kid’s fare for all these years, or even if you’re a long time fan, The Ultimate Aang and Korra Collection is ultimately a great way to experience the legends, whether by yourself or with the family. The Ultimate Aang and Korra Collection is now available on Blu-ray.

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While Inglourious Basterds is by no means a forgotten movie, seeing it for the first time since its theatrical release has stirred up quite a few thoughts.

It’s a War Movie That’s Horny for Westerns

Knowing where Tarantino’s trajectory would take him after this movie certainly helps make this clear, but my god there are endless homages to the American Western throughout, and they’re not subtle. For example, when the Basterds have a handful of German prisoners, the long, slow stares and spaghetti western scores, it shows his gaze into another genre that he fully committed to with 2012’s Django as well as The Hateful Eight in 2015.

It Fully Commits to Tarantino’s Alternate Universe

Way back before the screen cut from black in Reservoir Dogs‘ earliest screening, Tarantino’s obsession — and hence his characters’ obsession — with pop culture references became the cornerstone of his work. It wasn’t until Basterds that we’re given the first indication as to why. Rewriting history where Adolph Hitler is killed due to a pair of overlapping assassination attempts is one thing, but for it to take place in a movie palace from the days of yonder gave us all that reference-heavy machismo a definitive origin story.

Its Trailers Were a Fantastic Bait-and-Switch

Along with 70s-heavy pop culture references, Tarantino’s films have always thrived on the tension that any character, regardless of how top-billed the actor was, could be killed off at any moment; his penchant for scrambling the timelines notwithstanding. That’s Janet Leigh getting killed in Psycho halfway through but spread out over two-plus hours. Over and over.

That kind of high-stakes drama is one of Basterds strong points, and given that the story takes place against the backdrop of war-torn Europe, there’s no shortage of opportunity. The movie doubled down, however, relegating Brad Pitt’s Lt. Aldo Raine to a secondary character while Melanie Laurent’s Shosanna Dreyfus took center stage. On the Nazi side of things, Daniel Brühl’s Fredrick Zoller had a bigger impact shaping the story than a scene-stealing Christoph Waltz did as the cartoonishly villainous Hans Landa.

And if the bait-and-switch of the main characters wasn’t enough of a curveball, most of the movie is in French or German. And you would not believe how many people could not stop bitching about having to read a few subtitles during its theatrical run. Like reading is some massive chore.

It Really is Tarantino’s Masterpiece — and His Last Truly Great Movie

There’s something that’s felt off about QT movies since Basterds, and it’s pretty easy to pinpoint the reason is the death of his longtime editor, Sally Menke, in 2010. Django undoubtedly suffered from the marketing giving away too much of the movie, but also suffered from over-indulgent, out-of-place references that existed seemingly for their own sake. Sure, Basterds cast Mike Myers. But Django had its eponymous character dressed as Austin Powers.

Similarly, The Hateful Eight boasts a three-plus-hour runtime but still manages to need an extended narrated sequence to fill in its storytelling gaps, and Hollywood has a story in its similarly lengthy excursion somewhere, it’s just no one like Menke was around to try and actually find it. And sure, Basterds has obtuse moments of narration, it recklessly deviates from its five-chapter structure, and spends its time gazing lovingly at the Western genre, but it’s a war movie that’s both wholly original and chocked full of homages, right down to lifting its ’70s grindhouse title. It’s mercilessly tense, self-indulgent, subversive, clumsy, and indisputably a masterpiece.

Inglourious Basterds is currently available on 4K, Blu-ray, and digital.

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The success of 2018’s A Quiet Place all but ensured we’d eventually get a sequel. No doubt, for good reason. John Krasinski, who directed and starred in the creature feature, crafted a work of original horror that was fun and thrilling in equal measure. It’s sort-of-cliffhanger ending left us just enough of a thread to want to return to the world where monsters with super hearing have taken over and humans are forced into silence.

This year’s release of A Quiet Place II, pushed back from last year following the theatrical closings thanks to the coronavirus, portended a return to theaters and normalcy (a normalcy that, again, feels threatened) even with a box office take about $60 million less than its predecessor. And, in the grand tradition of horror sequels, leaves one wondering just what the point was supposed to be.

A Quiet Place II feels less like a movie than it does a couple of half-formed ideas for a movie that were thrown in the blender. The resultant experience is one that adds precious little to the experience of the original and, if anything, might bring down the original’s tense story.

After a brief flashback that takes us back to the first day of the invasion, the story picks up immediately following the events of A Quiet Place, with the Abbotts, Evelyn, Regan, and Marcus (Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, and Noah Jupe) escaping their home with a baby in tow. Their journey leads them to the compound of Emmett (Cillian Murphy), a former friend turned loaner after losing his family during the invasion. When the group discovers a radio signal being broadcast not too far away, Regan decides to see if she can find the people responsible while Emmett sets out to find her and bring her back to her family.

It’s a plot ripped from so many sequels to so many zombie movies. Indeed, so much of A Quiet Place II feels like a mid-season plot to a lesser season of The Walking Dead, with aliens taking the place of the undead. It’s a straight forward narrative walking down a well-trod path and never does it feel interested in doing anything to make us care. Instead, it focuses on how it can get from A to B with the least resistance possible, resulting in a film and narrative that offers precious little for its audience.

The Blu-Ray itself doesn’t offer fans of the movie much to be excited for, either. While the 4K transfer does look great, there is a considerable lack of special features that might illuminate the project or make the film something that’s particularly worth owning. It’d be one thing of the movie was good enough for subsequent viewings on its own, but instead it’s a lazy release of a mediocre movie.

With a spin-off movie already greenlit and a second sequel under consideration, the good news is that there appears to be nowhere for this franchise to go but up. At least, I hope so. While A Quiet Place II was boring, it was at least competently made, which I guess means that there’s still some room for it to fall even farther. Hopefully, however, this was just a misstep and subsequent releases can do more to justify their existence. As far as this movie stands, however, it’s little more than a halfhearted retread of a better movie.

A Quiet Place II is now available to own on Blu-Ray.

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But it was really the music that kept them going from day one. In Richards’ autobiography, he recalls that feeling of their first gig, subbing for Alexis Korner at the Marquee in London: “There’s a certain moment when you realize that you’ve actually just left the planet for a bit and that nobody can touch you. You’re elevated because you’re with a bunch of guys that want to do the same thing as you. And when it works, baby, you’ve got wings.” And those wings have taken the Stones on a worldwide journey for almost sixty years.

One thing that cannot be dismissed is the energy the Stones can bring to a stadium full of people. Jagger, the consummate showman, does his peacock dance, Richards hits those mouth-watering licks that send you off over that rock & roll rainbow while Watts keeping it all from spiraling out into the far beyond. They’ve done it for years and luckily for us, lots of those shows have been captured on film to enjoy for millennia to come. 

The album, A Bigger Bang, was released in the fall of 2005 and the Stones hit the road for a ninety date tour beginning that August and ending the following year in London. It was during this tour during a break before the European leg was to kick off, that Richards fell out of a tree in May and had to have emergency brain surgery. But the old codger was back on the road a few months later, hitting those notes and roaming the stage like a wily old cat. Not much could keep the Stones down.

But none of this had happened yet when they played Copacabana Beach in February 2006. They had already worked their way through most of America and Canada and were a well-oiled machine. The concert film, which comes in several DVD and CD formats, captures the majesty of what they did on that hot night in Rio. The DVD itself has excellent sound and video quality but again the powers-that-be have chosen not to give us any behind-the-scenes tidbits, except for the quick walk to the stage in a tunnel from their hotel. That is always a huge disappointment for fans. We want to see something private, something that makes this extra special, as they did on their Live in 1981, Hampton Coliseum and Totally Stripped DVD releases. But alas, here we have only the music.

But that music is rocking. When Richards hits those opening notes to “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” well, that’s all that needed to be said, and the band was off and running from one hit to another, the crowd in ecstasy. About midway through their two hour set, the stage breaks free and travels slowly out into the audience to give a few more hundred fans a chance to be closer to their musical idols. Starting with a speeded up “Miss You,” they played the new “Rough Justice,” an almost rumba beat style “Get Off My Cloud” and “Honky Tonk Women” while dodging fan-generated projectiles such as t-shirts, banners and shoes. 

Most of the big Stones hits are here: “Satisfaction,” “Brown Sugar,” “Tumbling Dice,” “It’s Only Rock & Roll” and “Start Me Up.” Richards has his vocal spotlight on “Happy” and the new “This Place Is Empty.” Ronnie Wood shines on slide during “You Got Me Rocking” and during the encore on “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.” Chuck Leavell has his spotlight turn during “Honky Tonk Women” while Lisa Fischer has her big vocal moment on “Night Time Is The Right Time.”

Highlights usually include new songs, since they’re fresh for the band as well as the fans, and here it’s the swanky walking slink R&B rhythm of “Rain Fall Down”- with kudos to Darryl Jones for making that happen with his juicy bass lines – and “Rough Justice.”  The Ray Charles hit, “Night Time Is The Right Time,” was brilliant, the vibe so hot it makes you want to throw off your clothes and just sway. And the rabble-rousing ending to “Brown Sugar” is A+.

“Midnight Rambler,” from 1969’s Let It Bleed, is an almost twelve-minute jollification of Jagger’s harmonica blowing and energetic dancing, Richards’ bluesy guitar rhythm and Watts outstanding drumming. It’s one of the best versions I’ve seen them do in quite some time. Richards in his autobiography called the song, “One of the most original blues you’ll hear from the Stones.” The album, the last to include original Stone Brian Jones, albeit in a very limited capacity, went to #3 on the American Billboard charts.

You’d think we’d eventually get our fill of these live DVDs from the Stones but it simply doesn’t happen. In fact, this one only makes you scream, Bring on the next one!

The post The Stones Strut & Rock To 1.5 Million Fans On ‘The Rolling Stones A Bigger Bang: Live On Copacabana Beach’ (DVD REVIEW) appeared first on Glide Magazine.

Just over a year later, front man Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and backup singer Cassie Gaines would die in a plane crash.

The Knebworth performance, first included as part of 1996 film Freebird…The Movie is finally available as a standalone DVD/CD set (there is also a Blu-ray edition). The 11-song set, performed in the middle of the day, kicks off with a particularly fiery version of “Working For MCA” and hardly let’s up until they cap the set, appropriately enough with “Free Bird.” In between is a remarkably strong set that includes “Gimme Three Steps,” “Call Me The Breeze,” a solid cover of the Jimmie Rogers classic “T For Texas” (the lead track off their One More From The Road live album that would be released a month later) and “Sweet Home Alabama”. 

The show is a beautiful time capsule of late 1976, complete with Allen Collins in ridiculously flared red pants and a red t-shirt. Along with Collins and Gaines, Gary Rossington adds a third guitar beefing up the band’s already monstrous sound. The 150,000 in attendance are clearly enamored by these Southern Rock ambassadors, based on loud cheers and the faces from the constant pans across the crowd. There is even a rebel flag being held up at one point by a member of the British audience (probably not easy to get in 1970s UK).  

The Blu-ray set also features the full-length documentary If I Leave Here Tomorrow: A Film About Lynyrd Skynyrd (originally released in 2018). This Knebworth set is quite possibly one of the band’s finest hours and helped solidify their reputation as one of the first and finest Southern Rock bands ever. In the decades to come, from the mid-80s-on a handful of surviving members and a rotating cast of add-ons would try and milk what they could from the band’s name and reputation, but even a slew of mediocre albums and cash grab tours can’t erase the memory of the band in their prime… especially now that we have those shows on DVD.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPvxxyzgTYk

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In their self-professed aversion to a conventional approach for this project, the famed movie-maker and his long-time collaborator David Tedeschi undermine the impact of their work. It’s certainly a distinct contrast to the linear approach they took on another effort based on the Nobel Laureate, No Direction Home, as well as the trenchant biopic on late Beatle George Harrison, Living in the Material World. What may be most frustrating here though, is the reality their approach avoids any clear-cut depiction of this notable phase from Dylan’s half-century plus career.

In spite of themselves, however, Scorcese and Tedeschi do proffer some insight, not only into the uber-hectic dynamics of this unconventional mobile folk hootenanny but also into how fully and completely Minnesota native Robert Zimmerman created this character we know as ‘Bob Dylan.’ On the latter front, Joan Baez’ story of masquerading as the man himself is even more riotously funny than a young Sharon Stone’s tale of flirtation. Essayist Dana Spiotta touches on the point of illusion versus reality too, even as he also makes a good case for a more pointed sociopolitical reading. 

Yet the superimposition of an interpretation involving the culture of America around the 1976 anniversary celebration seems forced. The novelist almost, but not quite, falls prey to the filmmakers’ (and most Dylanologists’) penchant for simply reading too much into what their eyes and ears behold. In one of the many interview segments peppering two hours-plus running time,  Dylan himself offers the most pertinent thoughts about the initial conception of the Rolling Thunder Revue, i.e., a reaction to dissatisfaction with his 1974 reunion tour with The Band. 

But, in their own conversations, both Scorsese and Tedeschi (brother of musician Susan, co-leader of the Tedeschi-Trucks Band) fail to even mention, much less illuminate, a point so salient it might well have been the gateway for a markedly superior construction of this title. Journalist Larry “Ratso” Sloman is far more clear-headed in his conversation and, perhaps unwittingly (due to his own innate verbosity), he reveals how Rolling Thunder allowed Dylan to rediscover the joy of performing.

Bob’s intense passion for the stage is as readily discernible in solo renditions like “Tangled Up In Blue” as the celebratory full band takes such as “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall” and “When I Paint My Masterpiece.” On the latter, in fact, he radiates the expectant air of one about to hit that latter peak experience, while on the former, his abiding engagement with the song and the music is sufficiently infectious, it appears almost the entirety of the ensemble—except for the stoically enigmatic beauty that is violinist Scarlet Rivera– displays the same animated body language and smiling visage of the frontman. 

The performance footage of Rolling Thunder Revue thus reaffirms that, along with the 1966 tour with the Hawks (nee The Band) and the middle period of his gospel years around 1980, the Rolling Thunder Revue thus stands as one of the three pinnacles of Bob Dylan’s stage history. As such, the concert intervals included here compel a wish that, as with the Bob Dylan – The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1975 Live Recordings (Legacy, 2019), these physical releases were expanded to double-disc sets in order to allow at least one complete concert to be included. 

Still, as epitomized by dramatic renditions such as that of “Isis” that Scorsese and Tedeschi rightly found so riveting, that content is absolutely compelling. As a result, Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story By Martin Scorsese is another invaluable, if not exactly essential entry, into the canon of this cultural icon. 

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That stalwart of cinema, which has propelled film since the early days of the medium, has fallen on hard times in recent years. What was once a delightful genre that catapulted actors and actresses to superstardom has gone into a state of hibernation. These days, it’s hard to find a truly original romantic comedy, or even a romantic comedy that has anything of particular importance to say. Now, it’s just the same old gags and same old clichés, recycled and reconfigured over and over again without much of an impact.

Which isn’t to say there aren’t exceptions. The last 20 years has given us more than a few romcoms of note, like Love Actually or The Big Sick, which do recall the glory days of the genre and remind us all why we love romantic comedies to begin with. But still, those tend to be the exceptions. For the most part, studios tend to design romcoms to be forgettable place holders, something people can watch for a while and promptly erase from their memory.

Given how rare it is for a romantic comedy these days to make much of a splash in the wider world of movies and filmmaking, it’s fair to ponder that we might not see another film like Moonstruck for a long, long time.

It’s been 33 years since the Norman Jewison classic first hit screens, and in that time Moonstruck has never waned. It feels as fresh today as it did in 1987, and perhaps somehow even more deserving of the three Oscars it won—Best Actress for Cher, Best Supporting Actress for Olympia Dukakis, and Best Original Screenplay for John Patrick Shanley—and perhaps even for the Oscars it lost, including Best Picture, which went to the deserving The Last Emperor.

Deserving though The Last Emperor might have been, it’s hard to deny that its impact has fallen over the decades while Moonstruck has, if anything, only grown. Truth is that Moonstruck is a result of just the right confluence of minds, from legendary director Jewison to playwright Shanley, that it landed perfectly within the zeitgeist and made a lasting impacting. Most importantly, unlike so many modern romcoms, Moonstruck had something to say. Not just about love, but about life and family.

Cher stars as Loretta Castorini, a widowed 40-something living at home and searching for something more. In the film’s opening moments she becomes engaged to Johnny Cammareri (Danny Aiello), who has to fly back to Sicily to take care of his dying mother. In the interim, Loretta is tasked with planning the wedding, including inviting Johnny’s estranged brother Ronny (Nicolas Cage) in the hopes of burying the hatchet. Plans change, however, when Loretta falls head over heels for Ronny, throwing her plans and life into disarray.

A simple enough set up for a romcom, but Shanley’s script is interested in so much more than the burgeoning will they/won’t they of Loretta and Ronny. From the very outset, Shanley understands that the essence of the romantic comedy is in the fairy tale. In the real world, we know that love is hard to find and harder still to hold. That any of us ever get married is a minor miracle, to say nothing of staying married. And so there’s an element of magic laced throughout the script that cannot be ignored.

The magic, of course, is the magic that exists between people, regardless of their relationships. Moonstruck is every bit the family drama as it is the romcom, and the love triangle between Loretta, Johnny, and Ronny makes up only a small percentage of the film. Much of the film focuses on the relationship between Loretta and her parents (Dukakis and Vincent Gardenia) and between Loretta and New York City.

From there, Shanley is able to concoct an over the top fairy tale that speaks to the modern desire for connection. Loretta, who is content to settle for Johnny because he’s a nice man, is helpless against the impassioned Ronny. Loretta and Ronny are flawed in broken in ways that make them perfectly complementary. Who can forget Ronny’s absurd introduction at the bakery?

It’s the perfect prototype for the kind of unhinged, manic performances for which Cage would soon become known. Bizarre though it is, with Cage screaming at his wooden hand, it’s infused with an over the top pathos that echoes the stage.

Jewison, as is pointed out numerous times on the new special edition of Moonstruck available now from the Criterion Collection, saw Shanley’s script for what it was: a fairytale with operatic scope. In fact, the works of Giacomo Puccini play an important role in setting the tone and feel of the film, and one of the film’s emotional climaxes occurs at a staging of Puccini’s La Boheme.

The operatic parallels run throughout Moonstruck and are, indeed, an essential part of its DNA. The film, like opera, exists in a state of heightened reality, one that’s recognizable as our own but just a little bit more fantastic. We forgive the implications of magic, no matter how slight, in this world because it serves as an accurate reflection of how we wish the world would be.

Rewatching the film on the new 4K transfer from Criterion, it’s easy to see how and why the world fell in love with Moonstruck back in 1987. For all its absurdity, there’s a real earnestness in its depiction of humanity and the heart. As ever, Criterion has loaded the release with tons of special features—commentaries, featurettes, interviews—that take you deeper inside the movie and offer a unique insight into the film’s tremendous legacy.

And it’s a legacy that belies the notion that the romcom is a dead or dying genre. It’s hard to believe that Hollywood has so readily given up on the romcom and allowed the vacuum in which mindless fodder is proliferate. Watching Moonstruck today, especially looking as great as it does here on this release, is a reminder that romantic comedies don’t need to cater to the lowest common denominator or rely on cute gimmicks to succeed. There was a time, not so long ago, when they were among the best films made in a given year. Or, in the case of Moonstruck, one of the best films made of all time.

Moonstruck is now available from the Criterion Collection.

The post The Criterion Collection Invites You to be ‘Moonstruck’ All Over Again (BLU-RAY REVIEW) appeared first on Glide Magazine.

There’s was simple aesthetic and ethos; they produced their films quickly but brought to them themes and imagery unheard of in American horror at the time. Owing largely to the ever looming threat of lawsuits from Universal, who were none to pleased to see someone else mining similar fields, their takes on the popular characters of the day were largely unique, telling the tales of Victor Von Frankenstein, Count Dracula, et al, with a kind of exploitation gusto. Liberties were taken with the source material, allowing Hammer to explore the tales and characters free from the threat of lawsuits while breathing new life into the tales that have haunted us for centuries.

But over the decades they established themselves as the most ardent competitor to the relatively tame output of Hollywood at the time. A Hammer film is one that was unafraid to get its hands dirty; it might be bloodier than its American counterpart and it was certainly sexier. It’s not unfair to say that the trajectory of cinematic horror was forever altered by Hammer and what they got away with.

And while their takes on the likes of Dracula (starring the inimitable Christopher Lee in the title role) and Frankenstein (a role originated at Hammer by Peter Cushing) might be the most well remembered of their Hammer output, over the decades they produced over 150 works of genre film whose influence can be felt to this day. Outside of horror, they made swashbucklers, thrillers, mystery, and sci-fi. Much of these works pale in comparison to their straight horror output, but there are some gems to be found within those hundred or so non-horror Hammer films.

It’s these that are celebrated in the new box set Hammer Films: The Ultimate Collection. The 20 films included here run the gamut of Hammer’s output but focuses its attention largely away from the straight horror films for which Hammer is best known. This results in a collection that, while certainly not the cream of the crop, showcases the kinds of films that Hammer fans have come to know and love over the decades.

Each film in this collection has been remastered to the best of their ability; the results are sometimes mixed but, for the most part, these old black and white and technicolor B-movie marvels look as best as they’ve looked in decades. That said, these were all low-budget films to begin with, and in many cases the best they can do isn’t much.

Still, that almost just adds to the atmosphere of a Hammer Film. The tawdry feel of their brand of genre filmmaking welcomes the lo-fi sensibilities of grainy picture and bad lighting. At this point, it’s part of the mystique, especially considering that for the longest time much of Hammer’s output was available only on half-worn out video cassettes passed down over the decades.

Included in the set are some fine examples of Hammer’s genre output, including the likes if Die! Die! My Darling, Scream of Fear, and The Gorgon. While perhaps not well-known outside of certain circles of horror and B-movie fandoms, these films are shocking and unique examples of how Hammer elevated and evolved horror and thrillers from the early days of the Hollywood system.

The films are violent (for their time) and ooze with a kind of nefarious energy and tone that horror fans just expect these days. While they’re low budget in production value, the limits imposed on the writers and directors of these films led to innovative techniques that helped push the genre (and filmmaking itself) to new territory.

But perhaps what’s most interesting is the chance it gives us to see early performances from modern day legends. Seeing Cushing and Lee ham it up for the screen, decades before either became the internationally acclaimed performers they’d become, offers a unique look at how both actors honed their crafts to become the time honored legends they’re known as today. Both actors were on contract with Hammer Films, and so both are seen liberally in this set, sometimes starring, sometimes just appearing, but always captivating with their subdued performances (even when they’re being over the top).

All in all, Hammer Films: The Ultimate Collection is a decent set for any fan of old horror and B-movies. Featuring commentary on select films as well as multiple behind the scenes featurettes, the collection offers a unique view into one of the more controversial independent studios of all time and makes a stunning addition to any physical collection.

Hammer Films: The Ultimate Collection is available now on Blu-ray. The films included are:

The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958)
The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (1960)
The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb (1963)
These Are The Damned (1962)
The Old Dark House (1963)
The Gorgon (1964)
The Snorkel (1958)
Maniac (1963)
Die! Die! My Darling (1965)
Scream of Fear (1961)
Stop Me Before I Kill! (1961)
Never Take Candy From A Stranger (1960)
Cash On Demand (1961)
The Stranglers of Bombay (1960)
The Terror of the Tongs (1961)
The Pirates of Blood River (1962)
The Devil-Ship Pirates (1964)
The Camp on Blood Island (1958)
Yesterday’s Enemy (1959)
Creatures the World Forgot (1971)

The post ‘Hammer Films: The Ultimate Collection’ A Schlocky Ode to Britain’s House of Horror (BLU-RAY REVIEW) appeared first on Glide Magazine.