Hello!

Four reviews up today, including a Region B item I didn’t want to get away from me. I’m happy to report that the Blu-ray companies show no sign of slowing down the flow of desirable titles. The busy review schedule this week, plus my main web-scouring correspondent being out of the state, has left me with little news this Saturday except the rain outside.

Powerhouse Indicator did contact me about some interesting upcoming UK releases: Dick Clement’s Otley with Tom Courtenay and (swoon) Romy Schneider, John Guillermin’s Town on Trial with John Mills, and Stephen Frears’ Gumshoe with Albert Finney, Billie Whitelaw and Janice Rule. I haven’t seen more than a few minutes of any of them; they should be interesting.

Good news on KL Studio Classics’ Duck You Sucker, which I’ll be happily re-reviewing presently. Kino has properly encoded my old NTSC featurettes for this release, so they’re actually watchable — Sir Christopher Frayling’s historical analysis of the picture is quite good. I’ll try to roll out a new idea or two about Sergio Leone’s controversial picture, and recount my personal subterfuge getting MGM to revert to its original title in their books.

I’m not much of an Oscars person — I avoid articles about the ‘hot’ movies to avoid spoilers. On Oscar night I generally listen to the broadcast from above, bopping down every once in a while to back up and see something I want to see, like the always-good-for-a-gripe Obituary montage. The awards are this weekend, and I’m not fully aware of what is nominated and what isn’t. I was knocked out by one thing — is it true that The Shape of Water’s special makeup wasn’t even nominated? Does that make sense, or was the film’s ‘special asset’ creature completely accomplished through digital means? I’ve not read up on the film’s production, even though it’s my favorite picture of the year. When I really like a movie’s effects, it takes a long time for me to even want to find out how they were made. The magic lasts longer that way; the real fun in movies is when one can be an ordinary fan again.

Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson