A look at what’s weird in theaters, on hot-off-the-presses DVDs, and on more distant horizons…
There’s nothing of even moderate weird interest debuting in theaters this week. Maybe we should all go outside and enjoy the last days of fading summer. Or, stay inside and enjoy the bonanza of cult Blu-ray releases this week (along with the releases mentioned below, there’s also a hi-def version of the iconic sci-fi Forbidden Planet being released this week… it may be time for you Blu-ray holdouts to get your hands on a player).
NEW ON BLU-RAY:
Mars Attacks! (1996): Tim Burton‘s silly but star-studded tribute to 50s alien invasion movies gets its Blu-ray debut. Buy Mars Attacks! [Blu-ray]
Stardust (2007): This epic fantasy/romance with unicorns and falling stars, based on a Neil (Coraline) Gaiman novel, starred Claire Danes, Ian McClellan and Robert De Niro, yet made little impact at the box office. I’ll confess to being one of the many who missed it, but its reputation is growing on home video; its weirdness is still in doubt, though. Buy Stardust [Blu-ray]
THX 1138 (1971): Made a long time ago in a stylistic galaxy far away from the shock and awe of Star Wars, George Lucas’ somewhat avant-garde debut was a dystopian fable set in a narcotic future where everyone sports a number rather than a name, shaves their heads, and dresses in white in a white walled, whitewashed world. Starring Robert Duval and Donald Pleasance, and cult fave Sid Haig even puts in an appearance. The Blu-ray release contains numerous extras including Lucas commentary, but all of them appeared on the previous 2-disc DVD special edition. Buy THX 1138 [Blu-ray]
Tommy (1975): Ken Russell directed this adaptation of the Who’s rock opera about a “deaf, dumb and blind kid” who becomes a pinball messiah in between his crazed biopics of Mahler and Liszt. It’s a candidate for the List, so we may be getting around to reviewing this one sooner rather than later. The only downside is that this is a bare-bones Blu-ray, lacking the Russell commentary and other extras that graced previous DVD editions. Buy Tommy [Blu-ray]
What are you looking forward to? If you have any weird movie leads that I have overlooked, feel free to leave them in the COMMENTS section.
Go outside and enjoy the weather? Never!
It’s funny that TOMMY just came out because just last night I was trying to explain the plot of Tommy to some folks who’d never heard of it. It’s not that easy to sum up effectively! I didn’t like it very much as a movie but I think I somehow convinced both of them to watch it even though I said I wasn’t a fan.