November has been a rather depressing month, but it did see a few additions to the collection.Blu-ray Update
Starring: Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn
Director: Stanley Donen
Special Features: Commentary with Stanley Donen & Peter Stone, Theatrical Trailer
The Criterion Collection has been rather hit or miss with their special features. This one sadly falls into the latter category with only the same features recycled from the DVD.
Starring Christopher Lambert, Sean Connery, Clancy Brown
Directed by: Russel Mulcahy
Special Features: Commentary with Russel Mulcahy, Deleted Scenes
Lionsgate has finally released Highlander on blu-ray in the United States, although the special features are sorely lacking.
The Deleted Scenes are going to catch the interest of Highlander fans. It should be noted that calling them "Deleted Scenes" is rather misleading. When viewing them, you will be shown this message: "Whilst creating the HD Master, it was noticed that there were five scenes that were either longer or edited differently to the scenes in the final HIGHLANDER version. As we didn't have the audio for these scenes, we could not include them in the film. We therefore laid music under these scenes and made them available as Deleted Scenes on the Blu-ray."
What you actually get are four scenes with a total running time of 6:14. You get an alternate cut of the wrestling match at the beginning of the film, an extended scene of Connor and Rachael talking just prior/after the WWII flashback, an extended section of the rooftop fight between Connor and Kurgan and finally an extended version of Connor and Brenda talking on the hilltop at the end of the film. As mentioned above, music is laid under these scenes, but it's not from Highlander. The music used here, and on the menu, is actually from John Debney's score for Cutthroat Island.
DVD Update
Starring: Jon Voight
Directed by: Ronald Neame
Special Features: Theatrical Trailer
I had always wanted to watch this movie and I found the out of print widescreen version at a local used record store. Not a bad Cold War era thriller. If you missed this one the first time around, it looks like a full screen version will be released on December 7th.
Starring: Emmy Rossum, Gerard Butler
Directed by: Joel Schumacher
Special Features: The Making of the Musical, The Making of the Movie, Additional Scene, Theatrical Trailer
Not being a fan of most musicals or Joel Schumacher, I had reservations about this one. Being a fan of the original novel and the Lon Chaney, Claude Rains and Hammer versions, I had to give it a chance. I'm glad I did because this movie version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical is quite good.
Starring: Willem Dafoe, John Malkovich
Directed by: E. Elias Merhige
Special Features: Behind the Scenes, Commentary, Interviews, Photo Gallery, Theatrical Trailer
I haven't watched this one yet, but the story is intriguing. It's basically a fictional account of the making of F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu where he hired an actual vampire to star in his film.
Starring: Stephen Collins
Directed by: Various
Special Features: Making of Documentary, Commentaries on 5 Episodes
This Raiders of the Lost Ark inspired TV show from the early 80's is finally on DVD. Thank you Shout Factory!
VHS Update
Starring: Ted Raimi, Deborah Foreman
Directed by: Josh Becker
I picked up the Japanese version of Lunatics off eBay. Someone needs to release this on DVD. I keep hearing rumors of a rare Laserdisc version floating around, but to this day, I still haven't come across one.
I don't know if I should mention these last two DVDs as they won't be added to my collection. I did purchase them back in October, so why not? These were going to be gifts for someone very special to me, but you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men...
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