Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn....

Finally managed to pick up the limited edition of Gone With the Wind... just never got around to taking pics. Big thanks to Jimmy for helping me with this one!! I really love these Warner sets and I am really looking forward to Singing in the Rain in two weeks time!!

Anyhow, they do say a picture tells another 1000 words.. so here are a few pictures for you!

The box contains a 52 page commemorative photo and production book as well as a number or reproduction documents (as seen above)

The set comes with two Blu-ray's, a DVD and a CD Sampler featuring over 8 hours of supplementary material.

Also included are ten great 5"x7" watercolour reproduction art prints (above)

Recent Viewings....

The Awakening (2011)
Atmospherically this film reminded me a lot of The Orphanage,  suffice to say I really enjoyed it.  Nothing like a good ghost story to keep you entertained on a chilly winters evening!  Having also recently watched the latest Hammer Horror rendition of The Woman in Black with Harry Potter, I was glad to actually get a ghost story that had its wits about it and did not rely on cheap gimmicks and loud noises for its thrills.  Whilst the ending may have been little obvious, and not quite as shocking as The Orphanage, I still found it most enjoyable and will definitely be adding it to my collection in the near future.

Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)
Went in to this one with pretty low expectations and must say I was pleasantly surprised.  It certainly borrows a lot from other movies (Princess Mononoke I am looking at you) and the ending is possibly one of the worst I have seen in recent memory, but the journey to that clunky ending was quite entertaining and the film is quite the visual feast!  I was a bit weireded out by the "dwarfs" though.

Brave (2012)
Pixar brings us a stunnigly beuatiful film to behold and were it not for the overly apparent moral tale running through the story this would certainly have been one of the best films of the year.  Sadly the story brings it down as it is too confusing and the constant hammering of the themes gets old fast.  Having said that, I would pay to watch a movie of just Merida's hair!!

Prometheus (2012)
Biggest disappointment of the year so far I am afraid....2 and a half hours and basically I came out with far more questions than answers... I am beginning to lose faith in Ridley Scott as he hasn't really made a decent film since Gladiator (though I did enjoy Matchstick Men).  The film certainly looked great, Fassbender was awesome, not sure what Charlize was doing there, it did have a few moments of interest, but I would rather have watched Alien 3 to be honest!

Piranha 3DD (2012)
Well, what can I say.... I really enjoyed the original (well, the original remake anyway) and I had fairly moderate hopes for this instalment and whilst it did have a few inspired moments, for the most part it was a D-Grade tits and gore fest with nothing original added to the foray....should have been way funnier than it was!

The Cabin in the Woods (2012)
Thoroughly enjoyed this take on the "teens go camping and end up in peril" film, much like Tucker and Dale before it we are treated to all the cliches, but with a nice twist thrown in for good measure... will be interested to see if it gets a sequel, given the material is now ripe for the picking!

Dumbo (1941)
Disney Australia did what I consider to be a fantastic thing over the school holiday period! They brought back a number of their classic titles to the big screen in brand spanking new digital transfers! I was lucky enough to see two of these screenings, Dumbo and The Aristocats. I cannot even remember the last time I had actually seen Dumbo, so to be given the opportunity to see it on the big screen was a huge bonus for me! In a testament to how long it has been, I had totally forgotten that Dumbo does not utter a single word in this film!

The Aristocats (1970)
Having just ordered The Aristocats on Blu-ray, it seemed a little silly to be paying to see it on the big screen, but as this is quite possibly my favourite Disney film of all time, I could not resist and boy what an experience!  I cannot remember the last time I actually got to see a hand drawn animated feature film, but this was fantastic. Disney have done a wonderful job of cleaning up the film without taking away any of fine detail, if the Blu-ray looks even half as good as this version did, then I will be very impressed!

God Bless America (2011)
A modern day Bonnie & Clyde that had way too many scenes that I could relate to in it! I must admit I really did enjoy the film despite some predictable plot moments and a few overly dramatic scenes, definitely another of my favourite movies of the year so far!

Hick (2011)
Gun-toting teens seemed to be a prevalent theme in my movie watching habits last month!  Chloe Moretz stars in this interesting little drama about a daughter abandoned by her Mother and neglected by her Father who sets out to find a new life amongst the glitz and glamor of Las Vegas.  She does this by hitching, so you could basically argue that this is a road movie.  I give it full points for not being predictable in anyway, but just something about this film stopped me from enjoying it fully....

The Tunnel on Blu-ray

Pre-orders for a limited edition Blu-ray release of the Aussie horror flick The Tunnel are now being taken!  If you missed my review of this film you can check it out here.  Otherwise visit their website and get ordering, you won't be disappointed!

Margaret (2011)

Shot back in 2005, Margaret has had a very long and eventful post production life. From court cases to constant re-editing, the film has finally made its way to our screens in a 2 and a half hour cut, that whilst not the director's preferred version, certainly whets the appetite for his upcoming extended DVD & Blu-ray editions.

Anna Paquin plays Lisa, a bright, capable 17 year old high school girl living in New York with her stage acting Mother (J. Smith-Cameron) and younger Brother.  On her way home from school she inadvertently sets in motion a chain of events that results in a traffic accident leading to the death of a passerby. As she comes to grip with her part in the incident we see her try and make amends for her actions, only to be met with opposition at every turn. As she gets more and more frustrated she begins to alienate those around her and seek comfort from those whom she respects.

Margaret is a powerful, honest, considered and in some ways brutal film, the performances from all of the cast are incredible, but Anna Paquin and J. Smith-Cameron are especially good as the bond between Mother and Daughter breaks down on an almost nuclear scale.

The dialogue is witty and believable and as the story progresses from one thing to the next you are fascinated to know where things are going to go and how it is going to end up for all concerned.  Sadly, it is also this disjointedness that is the films undoing. With a lack of coherent direction and flitting and seemingly insignificant scenes the film clearly either needs its extra 1/2 hour of pacing to breathe or connect some of these scenes, that or it could have done with a little more spit and polish in the editing.

On the whole Margaret is an amazing dramatic and truly brilliant piece of work and despite some flaws it is most definitely going to make it on my best films of the year list. I will also be first in line to purchase the extended edition Blu-ray upon its release next week in the U.S!

Home Made Special Editions

Collecting movies can be a difficult thing, movie studios often milk titles by releasing different versions of the same film often with a few months spacing and with a variety of different variations in order to entice you to double dip.  When I first got into collecting DVD's I decided that the most important thing for me personally was the presentation of the film.  Don't get me wrong, I love extra features, but sometimes the version with the most features does not include the best presentation of the film.  When Blu-ray came along I had to decide whether or not I was going to double dip on titles I already own on DVD, keeping my original mantra in mind I decided that I would.  I then decided that to fund this odyssey I would start to sell off my DVD collection as the titles came to the high definition format.  The immediate problem I faced with this plan, is that the studios in their infinite wisdom started releasing Blu-ray's that were devoid of any extra features, even those found on standard DVD releases.  What to do.. what to do...

Well in the end I went through my collection title by title and chose which films had extra features on their DVD releases that I felt were "must have" and which ones I could live without, I then used the following website to obtain various Blu-ray case configurations (2 disc, 3 disc, 4 disc etc) and decided I would make my own Super Ultimate Special Collector's Editions.. here are some of the results:

A Tale of Two Sisters (2003) - Consisting of the Tartan Palisades Blu-ray and the Tartan Asia Extreme 2 Disc DVD.  The Blu-ray has only a 20 minute doco and the trailer whilst the DVD's have 30 minutes of deleted scenes with commentary, 40 minutes of interviews with cast and crew, 2 audio commentaries and an exclusive interview with the director amongst other things.

Final Destination 3 (2006) - Consisting of the Australian Blu-ray release and the Hong Kong 2 Disc DVD Edition.  The main extra feature missing from the Blu-ray is the "choose your own fate" edition of the film.  I was amazed that this feature did not get ported to any release of this film on Blu-ray as it is screaming for an update on the high def format!!  It is a brilliant use of the interactivity of DVD and could have been even more so on the Blu-ray, but alas the studio was more interested in cashing in on the release of FD5 to cinemas and released all of the Final Destination films with minimal extra features. All of the other SD content did get ported however.

From Hell (2001) - This release is made up of the Australian Blu-ray release and the U.S Director's 2 Disc DVD Limited Edition. The Blu-ray release lacks any of the content from the bonus disc DVD, which itself includes two 60 minute documentaries on Jack the Ripper amongst a number of other features including an interactive investigation and a number of behind the scenes featurettes.

A Very Long Engagement (2004) - Now this special edition is the only one in which I did actually include discs from my Limited Edition DVD set (usually I leave collector's editions alone), but as the packaging for the DVD release is in the style of a book, I felt the discs were better off in a proper DVD case, or Blu-ray case as is the case here.  This special edition is made up of the French Region Free Blu-ray and the French 3 Disc Limited Edition DVD Set.  The 3rd disc is in fact the original soundtrack CD.  Interestingly all of the extras from the limited edition are present on the Blu-ray, so really the only reason I have put all these together is so that the discs are more easily accessible than their LE packaging (Below).

Winnie the Pooh (2011) - All I did for this one was add the soundtrack CD that I got as a free promo when I pre-ordered the Blu-ray.

American Psycho (2000) - This includes the Australian Blu-ray with the Unrated Killer Collector's Edition from the U.S which features an excellent 4 part documentary called "American Psycho: Book to Screen which is not present on the Blu-ray.

Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001) - Last, but by no means least and quite possibly still a work in progress, this version sees the French Director's Cut Blu-ray housed with the Canadian 3 Disc Ultimate Edition.  The BD is devoid of any features whilst the DVD set is packed and includes 2 feature length documentaries and loads more.  The reason this is a "work in progress" is that I intend to add the local Australian Blu-ray to the set as this includes the theatrical cut and one of the documentaries from the DVD as well as some deleted scenes.

So there you have it, a number of custom special editions.  I do keep the DVD slicks and slips, I just flat pack them and store them in a plastic file and I had thought of trying my hand at custom cover art, but finding the time to do it at this stage has been my downfall... maybe one day!!

Blu-ray Newbies

A few new additions of note to the collection.  I am going to have to do a fairly major update soon given that I haven't posted in a ridiculously long time despite many new acquisitions and viewings... anyhow, here are the latest 3 additions:

 Above you can see I have added two new Criterion titles to my collection.  They are Shallow Grave and Harold and Maude.  I had the pleasure of sitting down to watch Harold and Maude last night, the first time I have revisited this film in at least 10 years and I must say Criterion have done a wonderful job with the transfer. It looks and sounds stunning and I am truly thankful to be able to add it to my collection.  Shallow Grave is a double dip for me as I previously got it on Blu-ray in the British Indie Film box set I purchased (it also included Trainspotting, Gangster No. 1 and Sexy Beast), interestingly I hadn't watched that version, but as the Criterion is Director approved, I think I will be sticking with their release when I do get around to watching it.

Next up we have the latest Studio Ghibli installment: From Up On Poppy Hill.  I watched this on Saturday night and thoroughly enjoyed it.  It was certainly more impressive than Goro Miyazaki's last Ghibli effort (Tales From Earthsea).  It reminded me a lot of Whisper From the Heart, which still remains one of my favourites.  My only complaint with this release I guess, is that the limited edition included the release above inside it.  If I had known that at the time, I would have bought the limited edition, but as it stands I am still happy to have the title in my collection and I am greatly looking forward to next months release of My Neighbor Totoro and Grave of the Fireflies!!!

Studio Ghibli Collectibles

I thought this week I would share some of the awesome little collectibles I have picked up for Studio Ghibli films over the years... I don't have a lot, but I do enjoy what I have!  Lets start with quite possibly my favourite acquisition...

 I have been trying for about 3 months now to try and find a Bonsai or indoor plant that would suit this pot, but alas I have been unsuccessful in my quest, but I do hope to find one eventually!

My Neighbor Totoro - Vase / Flower Pot

My Neighbor Totoro - Money Box

I can't think of a better way to save your pennies than feeding Totoro!

My Neighbor Totoro - Plush

Nausicaa & Laputa - Teto Plush

Howl's Moving Castle - Replica Ring Charms

Arrietty - Hair Clip Peg (Came with JP Blu-ray)

Japanese Blu-ray Releases

Ponyo - Bento Box

Promotional Stuff

My Neighbor Totoro - Wobblers

Regular readers will also know that I have been collecting the Studio Ghibli Official Art Books, you can find links to their individual pages here: Kiki's Delivery Service, Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away, Porco Rosso, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind & My Neighbor Totoro

Eat My Shorts: Ruin (2012)

Ruin (2012)

Directed by: Wes Ball
Running Time: 8 Minutes 30 Seconds
Country: USA

I have previously posted a short film from visual effects gurus working in their spare time (405), but here is another of these type of films from Wes Ball and his animation company Oddball Animation.  Taking over two years to complete the short see a motorcycle rider trying to outrun a futuristic helicopter plane hybrid thingy all set in the backdrop of a post apocalyptic metropolis and it looks amazing!  His company are currently working on a feature called "In Search of Humans" and if this was anything to go by, I will certainly be keeping my eyes peeled for that!

Check out Ruin for yourself below!