Recent DVD Purchases
By Lacking anything better to blog about. . .
I have recently found myself in the mood to purchase DVDs. This mood strikes a few times a year, and usually leaves me in an impoverished state. I have tried to manage my problem by limiting myself to used DVDs, which is some help but by no means a complete cure. In any case, these are the DVDs I have most recently purchased:
Hell in the Pacific: I love this movie. If you’re not familiar, it’s kind of like Castaway, except that Lee Marvin plays the Tom Hanks role, Toshiro Mifune plays the role of Wilson the Volleyball, and the two characters try to kill each other for most of the running time. In fairness, the execution isn’t quite up to the concept, but it’s still quite entertaining.
Intolerable Cruelty: Coen brothers films have an odd effect on me. The ones I really like the first time around tend to fade, while the ones I don’t love at first tend to stick. The exceptions to this are Miller’s Crossing, which I continue to love, and the Man Without a Past, which was only okay first try and has since faded almost entirely. But, for example, I loved O Brother, but find myself watching it only very rarely. I was lukewarm about The Big Lebowski, and it is steadily creeping towards my all time top ten list. Intolerable Cruelty struck me in much the same manner as The Big Lebowski, and I have grown more fond as time has gone by.
Fog of War: I feel professionally bound to purchase DVDs that touch closely on my areas of expertise (I wonder if I can deduct. . .). Fog of War is quite solid, and I’m looking forward to watching the extra 24 scenes promised on the DVD box. I find McNamara’s discussion of the bombing raids against Japan a bit more interesting than his discussion of Vietnam, which strikes me as less honest (although, of course, it would be a pity if McNamara actually were honest about anything).
Shattered Glass: The film that conclusively demonstrated Geoge Lucas’ profound hackdom. The fact that Hayden Christensen can act his way out of a paper bag proves that Lucas must be one of the worst directors in history. Not that we needed much more evidence. . .
In America: Only DVD I’ve ever purchased without first seeing the film. Discount offer at the local Blockbuster means that it only cost about $4, which makes rental utterly pointless.
Hopefully I’ll manage to get DVD buying out of my system for a little while, enough at least to save money for Christmas gifts.