A lot of words about a handfull of DVDs.

I've been up to my eyeballs in wedding and moving lately, but I have managed to sneak a few movies in during the downtime. I managed to pick up a bunch of stuff on Something Weird's summer sale which came out to $8 post paid a DVD-R. For those of you who only know the SWV catalog from their special editions, they have a ton of stuff in their on-line catalog that will probably never see an Image disc. In many cases, the stuff is a little more "adult" than what a mainstream company would be comfortable carrying. There's also some of it with a much more limited appeal than what they have been releasing. And some of these prints are flawed in a way that only more dedicated fans will probably put up with them.

So, my order had a little of all three of these elements. Of course, it will probably be just my luck that Image will take the plunge on a few of these, but I kinda doubt it.

The first movie I got into probably hits all three criteria. It's Miss Nymphet's Zap-In, a Herschell Gordon Lewis film lost until a few years ago. HGL cut this one to double feature with Gore Gore Girls, though it's pretty far away in theme from that odyssey of gore.

Zap-In is kind of an "adult" take off on Laugh-In, consisting of lots of rapid fire vaudeville sketches, dirty jokes and plenty of boobies. Every now and then, the action stops and the entire cast yells "ZAP" and attempts to hold a freeze frame. Honestly, these were some of the more humorous moments in the film.

I'd like to say something good about Zap-In, but I really can't. Could HGL do comedy? Yes, at least when we're talking black comedy. That vein runs deep in most of his films. But this one just comes off corny and while it's interesting for a HGL completest, there isn't much to recommend it above and beyond that.

SWV's DVD-R looked alright to me, all things considered. This film had a really low print run and until recently, this was the only copy known to exist. (An incomplete print turned up on eBay about a year ago, but I don't know if anyone has seen it.) This print is pretty battered, with emulsion lines running through out and some rough spots at the reel changes. Still, I've seen a lot worse, and I don't think the public is going to demand this one get the Criterion treatment any time soon.

I filled a couple more holes in my HGL collection with The Magic Land of Mother Goose and Jimmy the Boy Wonder, two kiddie features Herschell shot as a hired gun. Now this is a warped double feature. Mother Goose is basically a stage play with Herschell doing little more than setting up a camera at the back of a high school auditorium. Basically, this was a vehicle for some magician and it features practically no production value at all. It does have a Raggedy Ann costume that is pure nightmare fuel and a pretty twisted which burning trick. I found this one worthwhile, but I also love K. Gordon Murray kid flicks.

(Speaking of K. Gordon Murray, one of his Santaland shorts appears as an uncredited extra on one of these discs. Both discs have a bunch of Storybook Classics trailers as filler. Pretty cool stuff there.)

Jimmy is an attempt at a real film. The premise being, this kid wished time stopped and then has to start it up again. Along the way there's terrible singing, a villain that could be Faud Ramsey's cousin and a poorly dubbed cartoon stuck in the middle as padding. (Check out Hersh's terrible Sylverter the Cat impression. Mel Blanc, he ain't!) Though there were many snooze inducing parts, again, I found it worth checking out, if you are into the warped kid flicks as I am.

Then we had an infamous one from the dynamic duo of Lee Frost and Bob Creese, Love Camp 7. I remember reading about this one in Incredibly Strange Films and knew I'd have to see it someday. This one may have been the first Nazisplotation film, a dubious honor, I'm sure. You know it was created just on the cusp of hardcore porn as you never see any of the guys take their pants off, and you see a whole bunch of torture and whatnot in lieu of sex.

The best part of the film, hands down, is Creese, in the role he was born to play, as the camp commandant. Bob doesn't just chew the scenery, he Hoovers up large pieces of it like a black hole let loose on the Hogan's Heroes set (which, according to legend, was where this was filmed.) Other than that, the movie is kind of dull. At least there's ample 60s cuties to gawk at, though the sex scenes made me reach for the fast forward button.

Other than that, I've had some time to view a few discs I got on the last Deep Discount sale. I was anxiously awaiting the new Godzilla discs from Classic Media and again, they impress with their releases. Ghidora the Three Headed Monster makes it's US DVD debut and Invasion of the Astro-Monster (aka Monster Zero) returns after being out of print for ages. Like the other releases, you get the US and Japanese cuts, commentary tracks and documentary features on one or another aspect of the Godzilla series.

Both of these movies are great, in my opinion, and Classic's discs serve them well. Quality is again top notch, though I found it a little curious that they reedited the Japanese prints to match the US dub tracks rather than using a proper US print this time around. I'm guessing it was to curb criticism like they had from their US print of Godzilla vs. Mothra that was the incorrect aspect ratio. Still, I can't recommend these discs highly enough and I only wish Classic had the rights to all the Godzilla films in the US as they appear to be the only company to truly do them right. (And the discs are cheap!)

Finally, I watched Sin City and I know at this point I must be the last person on the planet to see it. I only own it for the PSP as my friend I bought my PS from threw it in. Since I found these spiffy speakers at Target for cheap, I figured I'd kill an afternoon with it.

About the movie, my only real complaint is it could have used some tightening up. Ironic to say this, considering there's an even longer director's cut, but I just felt it could have been a little shorter and not any less of a movie for it. However, I loved the story, thought the look was great and I especially liked Mickey Rourk. Really fun stuff.

Watching a movie on a PSP is like staring at a dollar bill for two hours. It's easy to see why the UMD bombed as a movie format bombed, aside from the fact that people aren't too keep on paying twice as much for a lower quality disc they can only watch on the PSP. The screen on the PSP is great and with this Psyclone speaker set up ($25, Target clearance rack) you end up with a miniature home theater, but that's just the problem. It's too small to get really engrossed in like I like to with a movie. Even my Phillips portable with a 10" screen is a more enjoyable experience.

So, there's the latest in my movie watching diary. Also, Planet Earth on Blu-Ray is mind blowing. There's the PS3's killer app. After seeing that, it's really hard to go back to standard definition anything. Such pretty colors...

Rob the Hobby Lobby, tell 'em make me a shirt.

I know I'm not the target audience for hip-hop fashion. I'm white, 31 and from the suburbs of the mid-west. Not East Coast or West Coast. I'm straight up No Coast.

However, like many other white dudes who grew up in the 80s, hip-hop was my rock and roll. Run DMC was my Beatles, Public Enemy, my Clash. After that first wave of MTV crested, hip-hop and hair metal seemed to be the only things left with any of that youthful energy and fun. Motley Crue and Faster Pussycat just didn't move me like the Juice Crew did.

Like all other youth based musical movements, hip-hop was about fashion as well as the music. When I got to the point where I was buying my own clothes, I usually ended up looking like I'd walked off the set of In Living Colour. Thanks to MC Search, a large white dude didn't look any more ridiculous than anyone else sporting Cross Colors and Karl Kani.

As gangsta took over from the DAISY age, hip-hop style and the budding grunge thing started looking a lot alike. (The main difference being the fit and washing of garments, or lack thereof.) Then hip-hop clothes went from over sized to ridiculously large.

I guess I kinda lost the script some time in the mid 90s. Pants around the ankles and man dress t-shirts just didn't appeal to me. Strangely enough, much of what was happening on the music side of things wasn't hitting it either.

Since then, I've gotten back into some hip-hop, thanks mostly to a vibrant underground scene. Mainstream hip-hop has gotten more and more over the top, and not in a good way, and for the most part I just can't get with it.

I've been in New York for the past four days and this being the birthplace of it and all, I've just been checking out the hip-hop fashions while on the hunt for some new kicks. While I'm glad to see the baring your ass style is out, I'm kind of baffled by what appears to be the next coming thing.


Know what that is? Yes, it's the Bedazzler. No longer the exclusive tool of preteen girls and rednecks, the Bedazzler is making it's mark here on the streets of NYC. I suppose it's the next logical step in rap's obsession with shiny objects that shirts, jackets and pants with everything from subtle accents to entire designs Bedazzled upon them would be on deck.


Warning: This man may be gangsta.
As if the Bedazzler wasn't puzzling enough, I think hip-hop fasion really has been usurped by New Kids on the Block fans stuck in a time warp, because I swear to Koresh I've seen puffy paint gracing the bellys of some thugged out dudes. I'm talking lavender sparkly puffy paint! This is the kind of stuff that should only be used to write things like "Jordan is hot!!!" on a t-shirt, not something someone trying to look hard should be seen dead in.

And day-glo colors are apparently large and in charge. In fact, it was getting frustrating on my sneaker quest because while I was finding styles I dig, the colors were some variety of Technicolor vomit even Cindy Lauper wouldn't have worn back in 1983 when the stuff was popular the first time.

Girlz just wanna be thugz.

Now, I'm not going to pretend the hip-hop fashion of my time wasn't silly in it's own way. I mean, did anyone look good in Hammer pants? But at least I didn't dress like my little sister. I just don't get the current thing of how looking like a preteen gril from 1987 made your outfit is hip-hop.

Maybe that's the point?

Yeah I got on sneaks, but I need a new pair...

And they only cost $100 more than when I bought a pair in the late 80s.

...

Normally I detest remakes with every fiber of my being, but...

wow.

One of my favorite movies is getting the remake treatment, and check this out...



I have hope for this one. Crispin Glover is an inspired choice to play Montag. The trailer is a bit too Hollywood for me, but here's hoping this one comes out alright. This is maybe my favorite HGL film. I really hope they don't screw it up.

What I've been up to

I haven't abandoned ship here. I'm in the middle of moving. Above is about 75% of my CD collection. I haven't even touched the vinyl yet and frankly I'm scared to start.

Other than that, I've been busy with stuff. Svetlana finally recorded so hopefully we will have some sort of music available on the soon side. We've also played a record two shows in a month, so we're all pretty beat.

I've been enjoying unemployment, but I haven't really had too much time to catch up on the movie watching or music listening. I did get the Joe Henderson Milestone Box Set which has been completely rocking my world. This is some of the best mainstream jazz of the early 70s, to be sure. Highly underrated stuff.

I've also rediscovered my love of the Hammond B3 and all who play it. Specifically, I've been digging the recordings of Groove Holmes, Jack McDuff and Jimmy McGriff. Luckily for me, a lot of that stuff is available through eMusic so I'm not adding to the mountain of boxes above. I highly recommend Groove Holmes' On Basie's Bandstand and Jimmy McGriff's Groove Grease, if you have the chance to hear them.

(Yes, I know I did just throw a ton of Amazon Associate links at you. Sue me for trying to make a buck. I'm unemployed now, you know.)

Seriously though, firing up a bunch of ripping B3 discs has been about all that's keeping me going for packing all this stuff. I've lived in this place about 7 years and it shows.

OK, one more link, but it's another honest to Koresh recommendation. This Roma Violenta compilation of tracks from Italian cop movies of the 70s. (Think Dirty Harry but nastier.) This is some of the best driving music I've come across in a while. I wish I still had my Charger because this would be the soundtrack album. Another thing I'm thankful for eMusic for.

(While I'm whoring, if anyone wants 50 free eMusic downloads, shoot me your email. I feel dirty now.)

Enough of all that. I'm tired and I got another day of packing ahead. Just wanted to let you all know why you probably aren't going to hear much from me for a little while.

Cheers.

I'm almost sad really.

Because I know this thift score is going to take a while to beat. Yeah, I haven't done a thrift score in a while. I really haven't found that much interesting. But today...



Yes, that is an original pressing of Ska Authentic on the ND label from 1964, not Studio One like all subsequent pressings. The top seam is split, but the vinyl looks surprisingly good. How this ended up in a thrift store in Indianapolis (and remain in such relatively good shape) I'll never know.

Own a piece of Arch Hall Jr. history...

Do you have Twist Fever?

You too can sing the beautiful strains of "Vickie" lounging by the pool with Bud Eagle's 1960 Jazzmaster. (Richard Kiel not included.)

Interestingly enough, this leads me into a double barrel review. I recently got the Wild Guitar/The Choppers double feature from Something Weird and the Wild Guitar CD from Norton. Arch could actually play guitar and, even though he had some sappy stuff in his movies, the tape of him and the Archers playing at a drive-in is pretty rocking. Apparently he was a big fan of Albert King and Johnny Otis.

In the liner notes, he mentioned getting an endorsement deal with Fender for the Wild Guitar and they pretty much forced him into a Jazzmaster. Maybe this is the same one. Sure looks like it. (Yeah, I know he's got a Tele on the album cover. Sue me.)

Also got the Wild Guitar/Choppers double. I had Wild Guitar on an inspired dollar store DVD paired with The Beatniks. Needless to say, the quality on this is a million times better, plus you get all the extras Something Weird is known for.

As for the films, I really dig 'em. Wild Guitar is a "country bumpkin moves to big city to be a star" story but it's done really well. Yeah, Arch is sickeningly "Gee wiz!" through out, but his dad(!) and Ray Dennis Steckler are great as sleazy music industry rollers who lock Arch's Bud Eagle into a financial straight jacket where he has to be essentially a trained monkey. (And you thought that stuff didn't happen until Steve Albini wrote about it.)

The Choppers is a short JD picture. Shot several years before it was released, Arch looks about 12 in it. In this one, Arch plays a look out for a gang of car strippers. It's a fairly simple story, they get caught, people die, the survivors go to jail. The End. Oh, the greasy fat guy from Attack of the Giant Leeches is in there. That's a plus.

So, there it is. For some strange reasons, I'd claim being an Arch Hall fan. Yeah, he got knocked around on Mystery Science Theater, but he's got some kind of goofy charm I just can't put my finger on. You can get most of his movies cheap on public domain issues, well worth whatever you invest in them.

Welcome to the crappiest place on Earth!

In honor of the Chinese government's renewed pledges to curb intellectual property theft, I thought a trip to the Shijingshan Amusement Park was in order.



Hat tip to Cartoon Brew for the story.

Big Commotion 1968

Zany, episodic mod 60s flick staring Japanese Group Sounds band The Spiders. The film kind of plays like a long Monkees episode. As I gather what's going on (no subs, baah!) the boy's Galaxy 500 wagon gets rear ended by this chick and of course one of the guys falls madly in love with her. The rest of the film is a bunch of set pieces about him trying to win her heart. One guy in the band keeps having these weird hallucinations and imagines the band playing in the North Pole (riding polar bears) and in war and similar odd situations.

Along the way, the Spiders play some songs. It's an interesting post-Beatles, pre-acid rock 60s sound. Lots of pop hooks, but a distinct Japanese flavor. Good stuff, I'd love to hear more.

It looks like this was taken from a video source and it's non anamorphic letterboxed, which is very good. However, the video has been processed through 5 Minutes to Live's patiented video crapifier making the end result a bit of a pixely mess. It's still watchable, but it looks more like some web video blown up and less like a DVD. (Dear 5mtl, your source may be A- but until you invest in a real capture device and not the set top DVD recorder you got at WalMart for $69, this disc is a C+.)

Also be aware there are no subs and this is in Japanese. It's not very easy to follow, but I doubt speaking the language would make it that much easier.

Recommended if you can trade for it *cough cough cough* and you're into this sort of thing.

Bands I Useta Like

Funny stuff here: http://www.mikethepod.com/BIUL.htm

Review: Alice in Acidland/Smoke & Flesh

This one has been in the hopper for a while and I finally decided to tackle this double feature of drugsploitation this weekend. Why I picked this disc up, I don't know as the drug films really aren't my thing. I guess I'm a Something Weird completest.

We start with Alice in Acidland. This film is classic exploitation all the way through. From the faux moral high ground narration, to the depiction of all the depravity it is supposedly condemning, Alice is the grandchild of Reefer Madness through and through. Even the title carries the tradition of being leagues better than the picture under it.

Unfortunately, Alice is missing the goofy charm of it's predecessors. Make no mistake, this is a picture designed to show as much T&A and unattractive people dry humping as they could at the time, but it does so in the dullest way possible. I never made it to the full color acid trip scenes at the end, but I have a hunch I didn't miss a thing.

Marginally better is Smoke and Flesh. This one isn't a roadshow style exploiter, in fact it's almost arty in it's execution. Some groovy people score some pot whereupon they disrobe and have softcore sex. A gang of bikers crash the party and the hero doses the leader with LSD to get them to leave. Then everyone goes back to their cardboard tube bong and playing strip slot cars. The end.

There's not much to it, but it does have a few nice shots. It also has a garage rock track that sounds like of the Fabulous Wailers that plays over and over for nearly the entire 70 minutes of the film. And lots of shots of "the man" riding his motorcycle. Honestly, it was hard for me to pay attention to most of the film. Maybe I needed some of what they were smoking.

At least we have the special features and in this case they outshine the main attractions. First there's the usual assortment of trailers, radio ads and magazine covers. I'd buy discs of this stuff and, come to think of it, I have.

However, we also have a third featurette, Aphrodisiac: The Sexual Secret of Marijuana. Now this is something worth watching. An edited hardcore feature (I've heard it's more of a "soft" X. It's available from Something Weird on DVD-R, if you're really curious.) Aphrodisiac purports to be an educational film about the sexual properties of pot. What it is is plain and simple exploitation.

There's phony facts and figures. Silly man on the street interviews. Stiff dialogue. Early John Holmes. This one is really funny. Not worth the cost of the disc, mind you, but at least there's something worth watching here.

I love Something Weird, but I'll admit not everything they put out is for my taste. Maybe this is a case of that, but I really think with the exception of Aphrodisiac this is just a dull disc.

Pleasant Nightmares

Check it out here!

I don't know why I hadn't thought of checking YouTube for Sammy Terry clips before. Luckily there's a ton of stuff up there now. Prepare to waste most of a day going through all that good stuff.

For those who don't know, Sammy Terry was Indy's Shock Theater host who aired on WTTV from 1962-89. Not as well known as Svengoolie or some of the others, I think he's every bit as good, if not better.

I have a lot of good memories of not just the show, but also taking music lessons at Family Music, which was Bob Carter's store on the East Side. He stored some of his Sammy Terry props in the back room above the drum set. I never got enough nerve to root through there and see if George or Skull was lurking just above my head.

Anyway, for my Indy readers, hopefully this will take you back and everyone else should check it out and see what we grew up watching. Man I miss locally produced TV. You just don't get this kind of entertainment anymore.

Sly & The Family Stone - The Collection

OK, this is going to be a quick review here of the new Sly & the Family Stone set from Legacy. This isn't really a box set as much as it is all seven of the recently remastered Family Stone albums boxed and sold at a cheap price (I got mine for $50.) These discs are all available separately, though I'd suggest springing for the whole set. There's at least four solid classic albums in there and the other three aren't that bad either.

While people constantly crab about how the Beatles catalog needs freshening up, it still amazes me at how shabby other acts of the era have fared on CD. At least you can get all the Beatles albums on CD and they have a semi-respectable replica of the original artwork. Small Talk was only available on CD in Japan until this reissue series and the covers for There's A Riot Goin' On and Dance to the Music were butchered horribly. And the sound, well, I don't even think it was near state of the art when these discs were first released.

These new issues restore all the art work in a digipack and feature spiffy new mastering jobs. I'm sorry they didn't go the hybrid SACD route like they did with the recent Bob Dylan set, but these things sound excellent. Though I still haven't combed over everything with a fine tooth comb, I can't find anything really to complain about there.

However, I do have one major beef. Legacy has thrown on a handful of bonus tracks and 45 mixes, all of which are appreciated. What I don't understand is why they couldn't have thrown on the three crucial single only tracks recorded between Stand! and Riot. It really aggravates me that I'm still going to have to buy a hits collection to have "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)," "Everybody Is a Star" and "Hot Fun in the Summertime," easily three of the band's best tracks. There was plenty of room to include them and no reason not to (except the desire to make fans shell out for one more disc.)

The other thing I'd like to see is the couple of non-Family Stone Epic albums finally get a CD reissue (though I've heard they aren't very good) and, just to be complete, how about the ahead of it's time remix album Ten Years Too Soon? Still, thanks Legacy for finally doing Sly & the Family Stone Right. This is some essential music, highly recommended.

Best Musician Wanted Ad Ever.

Guitarists...if you are not Eddie Van Halen, think music died about 1976, have more vintage gear than a top name studio, are willing to learn 30 covers and practice several times during working hours (but have a steady financial situation,) have a willingness to be completely pushed around but are ready to make $100, possibly more, a week, have I got the gig for you.

Looks like he might take a drummer too but, just my luck, dude only plays a Hammond A-100. I can't get with anything less than a B-3. Pitty...I was so looking forward to rocking some Dave Mason in Kokomo Indiana.

UPDATE: well, he pulled down the ad, but thanks to the magic of Google Cache, IT LIVES!!!!

Yet another Grindhouse review.

Because this is one of those films that really seems to have people divided and is inspiring a lot of passion in movie nerds, I feel I should kind of break down where I'm coming from before I get into Grindhouse. First off, if you just stumbled in here, I am certainly a fan of the grindhouse cinema. I get and appreciate where this is coming from.

I'm fairly neutral on Tarantino and have no opinion on Rodriguez. I also went into this movie as blind as possible. I purposely didn't watch trailers, read up on the hype, etc.

With that out of the way, let's start.

Part One: Planet Terror. The government has created some sort of green mist that is turning people into pus filled zombies and a paramilitary group is after it. A mysterious guy fights with the hard nosed local law to save the world. His stripper girlfriend finds her true self in all the chaos.

Sound familiar? It should.

Planet Terror's story is appropriately convoluted and it almost all comes together in the end. Still, the story is secondary to the action, and Planet Terror is almost wall to wall action. By the end, it's obvious Rodriguez has kind of painted himself into a corner, but it really doesn't matter. If I had a dollar for every genre picture I've seen with a burn out ending, I'd be filming one of my own.

The one thing that seems to really have gotten the film nerds up in arms about Planet Terror is the use of CGI. Despite the artificial aging, this is obviously a modern film and I don't really think they were trying to hide that fact.

Imagine if Cannon Pictures invented a time machine, zoomed from 1982 to now, brought back some CGI technology (and a bit of 2007 budget,) gave it to Cozzi or Fulchi and told them to go nuts. Part homage, part parody, Planet Terror is every over the top 80s action/zombie gross out/horror flick you've seen refashioned for today.

It's silly, it's gory, it's loud and all action. Yes, Rose McGowan with a machine gun for a leg is ridiculous, but it's supposed to be. So many of these films were ridiculous.

Planet Terror was huge fun and exactly what I expected from Grindhouse.



Part Two: Death Proof. Where to start? I know what Tarantino was going for. I know he loved all the old AIP/Crown car pictures. How do I know that? Because the characters in Death Proof make explicit* reference to such genre classics as Vanishing Point and Gone In 60 Seconds (the original) when they aren't gabbing on and on about sex.

There's also an element of the rape revenge film, though there's no sex at all here. In fact, it's really difficult for me to understand what Kurt Russell's heavy Stuntman Mike was after here, because there was zero character development for him. All we know about him is he stalks these girls, kills them with his car and then breaks down like a little baby instantly when the table is turned.

And it's not just Stuntman Mike who is underdeveloped. In between a couple of rather uninteresting car chase scenes, there's talking, lots of talking that never really advances the plot or the characters. None of the characters really amounts to much, despite all the gabbing they do. Never once do you develop any interest in them and personally, I kept hoping Mike was going to manage to off the chicks in the end after all. Considering Quentin is trying to make this a character driven film, allowing the character to grate as they do is a big misstep.

If Quentin was trying to duplicate the tedium of some of these genre pictures, mission accomplished. However, I think true grindhouse audiences wouldn't have had the patience for this one. It's like when Death Proof is not trying to be a car chase/female empowerment film, Death Proof becomes some film school version of French New Wave and it just doesn't work.

So maybe I don't get Death Proof, but what I saw was a boring mess of a film. How Tarantino managed to make a film with hot chicks talking about sex, car chases and Kurt Russell dull, I don't know, but he did it. I'll say this, if you love that famous "Tarantino dialogue", you're going to adore this film because that's about all there is to it.

Bonus features: The fake trailers are pretty good. Thanksgiving and Don't are brilliant. I expected a little more from Rob Zombie's take on the Ilsa/Olga naziplotation genre though.

So, in the end I'd pass on the same advice I got going into this: you can safely leave after the trailer for Thanksgiving and feel like you got your money's worth. You really won't be missing much.

* I half expected the film to stop and Quentin come out and explain "Ok, in the next scene, I'm referring to..." It was almost insulting the way the character come right out and tell the audience what films Tarintion is paying homage to.

The EMI/iTunes Thing.

I'm sure you've heard about it by now, but if not, EMI is going to be the first label selling music without rights restricting DRM on the iTunes music store. They're also finally bumping the bit rate up to a more acceptable (but still not idea, that would be Apple Lossless or equal) bit rate. Oh, and they're charging you 30 cents more a track for the privilege.

In this deal, EMI gets to look cutting edge for being the first of the big four to lose DRM and Steve Jobs gets to look like the knight in shining armor because he gave this big anti-DRM speech recently. While I agree losing DRM is a win for consumers, I think when you look at this deal, it has a lot less to do with pleasing consumers and a lot more with business as usual.

Take Jobs for instance. Though there's a bit of revisionist history at work, Apple wasn't always anti-DRM. In fact, they've told labels who specifically asked to sell DRM-free music they couldn't. Why did this guy who, up 'till recently, had no problem with right restricting software suddenly have a change of heart?

Sure, it's possible Steve's had a change of heart. However, I think it might have something to do with not wanting to fight for DRM all over Europe. Norway already has smacked FairPlay down, Italy is going that way too. Same with France and Germany.

Pardon me for being cynical, but you have something that ties users to your specific product (and Jobs' figures on iTunes music store purchases vs. iPod ownership are really skewed) why you'd want to voluntary change that, I could not imagine. The fact that Jobs, who is a majority shareholder in Disney, hasn't come out against video DRM, and is clearly in a position to do something about that from both sides of the purchasing chain, also makes me skeptical.

As for EMI, here's where people are missing the big picture. It doesn't cost them any extra to offer higher bit rate, non-DRM tracks, but they're getting 30 cents more a pop. The record industry has been trying for quite a while to charge more at the iTunes music store, but up until now Jobs has said no.

Now Jobs is in a bit of a bind over this DRM thing, which up to know has worked out well for Apple and the industry. Apple needs to ditch the DRM, the industry wants to charge more and we end up where we are now. A win/win for Apple and EMI. A partial victory for consumers.

Free Movie: War of the Monsters

Thanks to my buddy at WTF-films, here's something kind of neat for you. It's the AIP-TV dub of Gamera vs. Baraugon in widescreen! Enjoy! (And take a shot each time they mispronounce Gamera.)

Review: X From Outer Space

This is probably going to be the worst review I've written so far. Reason being, I fell asleep multiple times while watching this movie. I'm fairly confident that I got enough of it to accurately convey what's going on and if it's worth your time.

Honestly, this is a very simple movie. Some people go into space, they unknowingly bring back a monster egg, which hatches and wrecks stuff. That's pretty much X from Outer Space right there. Of course, it takes the first 45 minutes of the movie to actually get to the point where anything really interesting starts happening. Hence my naps.

Long the way we have a small love triangle featuring two women who can't put professionalism above their personal feelings and male object of affection who doesn't seem to care much either way. There's also enough pseudoscience and scientific coincidences to equip a cheesy comic book for a whole year.

The monster, who is for some reason christened Guilala (there is no X from Outer Space in this movie)is pretty dang goofy looking. Imagine a bee stung Godzilla with a stingray for a head. Then put a pair of those bopper antennas on him.



The model work isn't too bad, at least not until you get close up. To Shochiku's credit, the sets are pretty big. There's lots of crap to stomp, it's just not that detailed. Of course, there's some horrible green screen work any time the monster has to appear with humans. Obviously, they only made the man sized suit and not any scale models for scenes that needed them.

I won't spoil the ending for you, but let's just say it involves one of those coincidental scientific discoveries I was talking about earlier. Really, you're better just to forget about the plot and enjoy the monster.

Two other things. One it looks like this movie was filmed either with a fish eye lens or to be shown on a curved screen. Everything looks a little stretched and it gets worse near the edges of the frame. Frankly, it about drove me nuts, though other than that the picture looks pretty good (and it is original aspect ratio.)

This disc doesn't have subs but it does include the English dub. I don't know who did it, but the dub is pretty good except for the fact that all the Caucasians in this movie have some really over the top Hogan's Heroes German accents. At times, it was difficult to figure out what the hell the white folks were saying!

Given the fact that this isn't available here in the US (and I'm surprised some public domain company hasn't tried to release it yet like they have with Gamera and Yongary) I'd really say only if you're a kaiju completest should you track this down. There isn't anything here kaiju fans haven't seen dozens of times already and what is here is really average at best.

(I almost forgot, there is one classic scene of an astronaut plugging a hole in the space ship with his ass. That was pretty much the best part of the first half of the movie right there.)

Review: The Invisible Boy (1957)

The Invisible Boy is tucked away on the second disc of Warner's recent Forbidden Planet double dip. Watching this film didn't ring any bells, so I'm pretty sure this was a first viewing for me. It's kind of obscure and barely a fraction of the movie Forbidden Planet is, but it's kind of fun anyway.

Egghead mathematician Dr. Tom Merrinoe is irritated that his son Timmy is almost 10 and can't play a decent game of chess. So he takes the boy in to meet this supercomputer he's created and the machine teached the boy about chess...and world domination. Dun duh duuuuuuuuuh!

Timmy hustles his dad at chess and in return gets to play with Robby the Robot. Actually, he has to rebuild Robby first, which he does flawlessly and no one seems to find this weird despite the fact that all these other science dudes couldn't figure out what made him tick. Later, Timmy has the supercomputer reprogram Robby to forget the first law of robotics because he wants Robby to fly him in this dangerous kite Robby built for him.

Timmy's mom sees him flying, flips out and deals the kid a beatdown. This leads to Timmy wishing he could do fun stuff and no one could see him, so Robby cooks up an invisibility potion for him. Again, the fact that something completely fantastic just happened seems to be handled very nonchalantly and the boy receives another whooping after playing voyeur on his parents. (Ewwww!)

Meanwhile, the army is trying to get a rocket up and has asked the supercomputer for help, but the machine has different ideas. Dr. Merrinoe has some code sequence memorized that the machine needs so it can be disassembled and reassembled on the moon where it will then rule the Earth. (Huh?) The computer has Robby take Timmy hostage and install transmitters in the skulls of all the army and science people around the doctor to try and persuade him.

The rest of the movie is the doctor trying to get Timmy back without giving away the code. You can probably guess what happens, but if you can't, I'll give you a clue. They all live happily ever after (and Robby protects Timmy from getting a final spanking. Sheesh, you'd think they be happy to get the kid back in one piece.)

I know it's not fair to compare this movie to Forbidden Planet, but given they are packaged together like this, it's kind of hard not to. The Invisible Boy is pretty much the polar opposite of that masterpiece. It's cheap, juvenile and silly with tons of pseudoscience whereas Planet is a mature "A" picture with lots of research and care going into it. Forbidden Planet was based on Shakespeare. The Invisible Boy could have been a Richie Rich comic.

My favorite thing about The Invisible Boy (aside from Robby, who is still my favorite movie robot) is the way everyone treats Timmy and his various shenanigans. In the first five minutes of the film, it's pretty obvious the kid is depressed because his father is self-absorbed and a workaholic and his mother is the typical weak "wait 'till your father gets home" type. Everything Timmy does is either wrong or worth a beating. No chance of sparing the rod and spoiling the child here.

However, when the kid is responsible for some amazing stuff, it's just brushed off. Rebuild a robot that a bunch of science dudes couldn't figure out? Oh, that's nice. Turn yourself invisible? He's just acting out. This whole movie plays like some pop psychology hell.

Then there's the supercomputer. Despite being cheap (and having a midsection that looks like one of those dessert display cabinets you used to see in restaurants) is kinda cool. Because it's the heavy, one might be tempted to see this as a precursor to man vs. machine movies like 2001 and Blade Runner, but really, that's giving The Invisible Boy too much credit. The film still plays like a giant monster movie, except this time the monster is electric...err...atomic (this was the 50s, after all.)

It's obvious The Invisible Boy was thrown together to get some more mileage out of the expensive Robby suit. It probably didn't hurt that this movie would appeal to the kiddies either. If you approach it like a kid's B movie, it's a bit easier to swallow. Still, I'd have a hard time recommending this to anyone other than sci-fi completests or Robby the Robot fans.

Review: The Land Unknown (WTF-flims)

The last DVD I looked at was The Deadly Mantis, a Universal sci-fi flick that managed to get a lot wrong. So today I'm going to talk about The Land Beyond, another late 50s Universal sci-fi that manages to get closer to right. Mind you, it's not a great movie, but if you're a fan of 50s sci-fi/giant monster flicks, you're going to enjoy this one.

I'm not going to lie to you and say this is some mold breaking sci-fi work. It's not. As usual, we have the reporter lady Maggie tagging along with the scientist/military guys on an expedition. This time they're going to the South Pole for reasons I missed. Their helicopter is clipped by what looks to the audience to be a pterodactyl and they are forced to land in a balmy crater well below sea level.

Exploring the terrain proves they're not in Kansas anymore. Our leader Hal quickly surmises they're in the mesozoic period, a fact which everyone seems nonchalant about. Maggie's clothes start to fall apart (though in one scene, her sleeves magically reappear, then dissapear) and the group discovers the survivor from a previous mission who's magical conch shell sounds like the Stan Kenton horn section and keeps the dinosaurs away. He and Hal fight over Maggie while the guys try to find the parts to fix their helicopter.

What helps here is the actors aren't entirely incompetent and the effects are actually pretty good. The t-rex is a suit with a big old animated head. Kind of cool. Not the best, but neat enough. The sets are pretty decent though. You can tell it's a sound stage, but at least they tried.

Interesting that you can tell they put some money in to this, they even went so far as to film in Cinemascope, but they didn't go so far as to use color film. Granted, that wouldn't have changed the fact that this is still a pretty silly movie, but it might have give it a touch of class over the other B-movie sci-fi of the day.

WTF's disc is letterboxed and looks good. Crisp image, good blacks, etc. (By contrast, I have a Cryptflicks disc of this that's almost gray and white.) You also get the trailer, an image gallery (short as it is) and an easter egg with Italian opening credits. The only beef I have is the menu is a little wonky. All the items are accessable, but the direction buttons don't go the way you'd expect them to.

Good stuff here. Fun movie, not a great one, but if you're into the genre and ready to dig a little deeper, you could do a lot worse than The Land Beyond.

Available from WTF-film. Use coupon code cdr10 at check out for 10% off.

heh.

Yet another comic related website I'm addicted to...Superdickery.

Couple more...just for Butchieboy...

The Incredibly Shrinking MST3K

It should come as no shock to anyone reading this blog that I love MST3K (or Mystery Science Theater 3000, to be exact.) However, the show has been off the air for years. The only way to watch it anymore is either through the beauty of tape trading/file sharing or the DVDs and videos Rhino has released.

Despite feeling they are a bit pricey and sometimes a little carelessly assembled, I do genuinely appreciate the Rhino releases. Recently, I've become a little concerned about the future of MST3K at retail. I'm not going to claim it's all over for the cowtown puppet show, but I do have to wonder if we're seeing the beginning of the end.

Part of the problem is licensing. See, MST3K has got to be the most difficult TV show in terms of rights and licensing anyone ever could have created. Since each episode encompassed an entire movie, the broadcast rights for that movie would have to be secured and renewed to keep that episode on the air. If Rhino wanted to release that episode, additional rights needed to be secured.

Rhino has been an excellent home for MST3K if for no other reason than they already have the rights to a lot of movies featured on the show. The problem is, over time those rights expire and if the owners of the film chose not to renew, that episode would go out of print.

This first happened in the VHS days with Amazing Colossal Man being the first episode orphaned. No real surprise, considering that movie and it's sequel War of the Colossal Beast (also featured in MST3K) have been embroiled in rights tangles for years. Next to go was another single episode release, The Beginning of the End, which went out of print when the rights to the movie went over to Image early last year.

Though there was a considerable gap of time between those first two casualties, the deletions have been fast and furious since. In the last year, Rhino lost the rights to all four films on the Vol. 1 set and Sidehackers for Vol. 3 (orphaning three other discs in the process.) Vol. 10 was pulled almost as fast as it was released (though we still don't know why, the assumption being Godzilla vs. Megalon wasn't licensed properly to begin with) and a few weeks ago fans discovered Vol. 9 is MIA as well.

If these were all older releases, it wouldn't be so shocking, but the fact of the matter is, the two most recently released MST3K sets are out of print, one within weeks of hitting the shelves. I've also noticed the release date for Vol. 11 keeps getting pushed further and further and still no titles leaked. One has to wonder what the heck is going on at Rhino.

The other problem is stores just aren't stocking these things any more. I recently spoke to someone at Best Buy and he told me he didn't think they were carrying any MST3K discs anymore. Despite all the shelf space they're giving to TV on DVD, apparently they can't spare any room for MST3K. It's a similar situation at the other box boxes out here. Cult releases, like MST3K, are getting pushed out for more room for triple dips of Hollywood's latest CGI-fest.

With rights vanishing along with self space, I have to wonder what the future holds for MST3K on DVD. Even at best, these can't be huge sellers anyway. With dwindling retail placement and nightmarish licensing, releasing these things can't be much more than a labor of love. I just have to wonder how much longer Rhino is going to feel that love.

Update 3/19: Looks like I Accuse My Parents may have slipped over to the land beyond. Good luck trying to score a copy, all the sellers on half.com and Amazon appear to be "warehouse" sellers who list tons of crap they don't actually have on hand. If this is truly OOP, I don't exactly know why...

Review: The Deadly Mantis (WTF-flim)

You can't deny Universal Studio's might in the world of monster movies. Dracula, Frankenstein, the Mummy, the Creature and on and on and on. Classics all. Then you discover something like this lurking behind the Universal globe and you have to wonder what the hell they were thinking. Were they trying to fill the lower half of a double bill and didn't feel like re-running one of their classics? Was the market for Z-grade flick like those that Astor and Lippard cranked out that lucrative?

Anyway, the key with these bottom of the barrel monster movies was suspense and advertising. Give the movie a name like "The Thing that Killed" or "Hell Creature of the Sky" and keep the audience guessing as to the creature looks like. Of course, it's going to be silly and cheap, but there was always that anticipation that it might be scary. However, even the title of the Deadly Mantis gives it away, so when the characters spend half the movie trying to figure out what's taking down airplanes, we already know.

Aside from that, you can go down the Z-grade monster movie check list and pretty much check the box by every cliche. Three main characters; scientist guy, military guy and reporter girl. Check. Cold war underpinnings? Check. Atomic energy as the trigger? Check. Narriator? Check. Copious stock footage? Yep. Giant bug? How's this guy for ya?


I know a lot of people like to take the piss out of Bert I. Gordon, but watching this movie seriously makes one appreciate what he could do in the giant bug genre. I'm not going to suggest Mr. BIG was a great filmmaker, but you could never accuse him of being less than entertaining. I fell asleep twice during the Deadly Mantis. No lie. There's only so much army stock footage a man can take.

Anyway, I'm sure you're all going to want to run right out and secure a copy of this for your very own, so let me tell you a little about the DVD. As usual, WTF-film does a great job with the disc. From cover to menus, the whole thing looks great. The transfer (which, I'm assuming comes from the old Universal Sci-Fi laserdisc set) is slightly windowboxed full frame and looks really good*. This looks about as good as the Sci-Fi set Universal put out last year and has extras (trailer and photo gallery) that Universal didn't bother with to boot. Unless they decide to put out another Sci-Fi collection, I think this is going to be the best way to own this movie, even if I can only really recommend it for genre completists.

Available from WTF-film. Use coupon code cdr10 at check out for 10% off.


* note, if you were reading message boards around the time Universal released This Island Earth on DVD, you'd know there's a ton of controversy over the correct aspect ratio for the Universal Sci-Fi and Horror films of this era. I'm in the camp that believes these were meant to be cropped to 1.85:1 widescreen, but transfers like this that are full frame rather than pan and scan don't bug me too much.

Spiderman '67

One of the fun things about owning so much crap is, it's very easy to forget what you have and when you discover something, it's like Christmas. That was how I felt the other day when I was rooting through my CED box and found a disc of '67 Spiderman cartoons. Last night I got to spend a little quality time with the RCA SKT-200 and completely got sucked in to the Spiderman disc.

Now, I never really was a comic book nerd. Sure, I bought some, but honestly I preferred Richie Rich and Archie to Superman and the like. I don't know why, it's just one of those boy rites of passage I skipped (like baseball cards, or sports in general, for that matter.) But somehow, even though this show is before my time really, I have fond memories of seeing this on reruns somewhere, so it was a blast to watch this disc all these years later.

Watching now, I guess what I like about it is it just doesn't take itself too seriously. The dialog is flat out ridiculous, with plenty of pompous sounding alliteration, both on the part of Spiderman and his foes. Speaking of, the enemies are pretty silly too. I saw Vulture Man, though I'm not exactly sure how controlling birds, even if they all were vultures was supposed to be worth the TWO MILLION DOLLARS he extorted from the city. Was he going to have them poop on people's cars or something?

And I love the fact that Vulture Man wanted two one million dollar bills. Luckily, the mayor just happened to have a couple handy.



The animation is pretty sad, typical of late 60's animated television, which only adds to the charm. I made a game out of playing count the recycled animations. Not only is there plenty of recycling, there's also some just bizarre drawing on display. Each episode has at least one reaction shot that has the human face doing things it could not do unless it was made of rubber.

Example A:



That, to me, is part of the charm of these 'toons. The comic industry just takes itself too serious anymore. Sure, these were cheap and weird, but they were designed to be disposable entertainment for children, not something for grown men who still live with mom to obsess over.

I didn't know it, but I guess all these are out as a DVD set for the reasonable price of about $45. Personally, I don't think I need that much Spiderman '67, but if you do, there it is. CED Magic's page on Spiderman on CED has more info specifically on what I have here and is where I ganked these images from. (Sorry Tom.)

One other thing, I'd be remiss if I failed to mention the excellent library music used throughout the Spiderman 'toons. Neat article about that at WFMU's Beware of the Blog. Fortunately some fans have done the sleuthing to put together a compilation of some of the tunes and you can check out that comp here. (Better quality comp here and here. Download both parts and unzip.)

I rocked Lincoln Center last night...

without ever leaving Indianapolis. In fact, I was home with a stomach cramp. Heck, I didn't even know I was killing 'em in Wynton's house.

Insert my rock here.

Ok, I may be stretching things a hair, but a crowd of people did hear me play drums at Lincoln Center last night. And I'm coming soon to a TV near you...assuming you have Showtime.

My friend and long time musical collaborator (man, it feels pretentious to say that) Jon Autry managed to get six of his songs in the new This American Life show Showtime is doing. In fact, they liked his music so much, the only other person to have so much in the show was Mark Mothersbaugh, who Jon is likely to get to meet, lucky dog.

Anyway, he hadn't heard what or how they were using the tracks prior to the show's debut party at Lincoln Center last night. As he describe it to me, at the climactic moment of one of the stories they showed, there's my drums, rocking it out balls to the wall.

Kind of funny some track we recorded four, five years ago in the living room of the place he was living is going to be on a cable TV show. I'm pretty stoked to see this.

Saddle Creek gets it.

Though I'll probably never buy anything they put out, it's really wonderful that they are offering the digital download of an album with the purchase of the vinyl. I love owning records, but the sad reality is, I have to listen to mp3s more often. This is a great idea and I hope either more labels follow or Saddle Creek starts putting out music I like (not bloody likely.)

Hours of fun...

The Garfield Randomizer.

From the comments...

The award winning Butchieboy laid this link on my in the comments. Here I'll just embed it.

Spectreman vs. the Monster Gorilla



Part 2



Part 3



Part 4




Check out Butchie's blog, you Gaynatian.

Goin' Coconuts (1978)

You know Donnie & Marie Osmond were on the way down in 1978 when Goin' Coconuts starts with the two supposedly in concert on a totally empty stage with no audience. Not only did they cheap out on scenery, but it would appear to me they borrowed the plot from the Brady Bunch or Scooby-Doo.

CAUTION: POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD! FO' REALZ!!!1

See, Donnie and Marie, along with their stereotypical manager, are on their way to Hawaii to play a show. In the airport a fake priest hands Marie a necklace which immediately attracts the attention of a dozen stereotypical baddies. About five hours into the movie, we learn the necklace is actually a decoder for this treasure map leading to a sunken submarine (!) with gold bars. Of course, by this time, we've already figured that out as subtlety is not this movie's strong point.

Along the way, there are many "wacky" and/or "madcap" chases. Of course it takes about half the film's running time before our heroes realize they're being chased. Those stereotypical baddies? Well, we have a Strangeglove-esque German (who would have been a million times better if Charles Nelson Riley played him) and a few Fu Man Chu generic Orientals. And Lurch. Yes, Ted Cassidy is the only other recognizable person in this film.

There are lots of jokes about teeth. Y'see, the Osmonds have really big teeth. I mean huge. Like, freakishly large and white. We're also treated to many scenes of Donnie being a playboy. Though his star fading at this time, I guess it's still possible that he'd get the Beatles treatment. Poor Marie though is treated like the virginal kid sister throughout.

The problem here is Goin' Coconuts falls into the category of films not bad enough to be good but also too bad to be good. There are a few good moments (like this classic reaction shot) but for the most part the movie just kind of drags.



This disc, from EastWest, is slightly less crap than their normal fare. It appears to be taken from an actual film source as opposed to their normal technique of using crusty old ex-rental VHS tapes. Of course, the print is less than pristine and is compressed to all hell so you get some massive macroblocking anytime there's motion or any complexity in the image. For a dollar, you expect it.

As always, the legality of this release is highly questionable. There's also a second feature "Lost on Paradise Island" that I haven't gotten into yet.

If you're one of the suckers who paid $25 on eBay for this, well, I'd be out for blood if I was you. Worth a buck? Maybe. I have to admit, I had high hopes and this failed to live up to them.

New blog...

Heads up, I'm contributing to a new blog 30 Lives, dedicated to gaming and whatnot.

http://30lives.blogspot.com/

Check it out.

More here soon.

Battle Royale DVD Review

Wake up! Time for happy fun die Hello Kitty!

Ok, here's one messed up film I'd be willing to lay money on never seeing a US release. (Of course, at this point the film is almost 7 years old, which might have something to do with that as well.) Battle Royale doesn't have so much in the way of plot. Basically, the youth are out of control so to apparently scare them straight, the Battle Royale law is enacted. Every year, one seventh grade class is dropped on an abandoned island, given weapons and supplies and the last person standing gets to return to society. Of course, if after three days there isn't a winner, the monitoring necklaces everyone wears explode.

That's pretty much it. Teenagers going after each other with guns, grenades (tucked in severed heads) and sickles. Hmm...wonder why no one has picked this one up?*

So, what does Battle Royale offer other than violence, gore, etc.? I took this film as a black comedy parodying high school. All the stereotypes play themselves out in various deadly manners. Yes, the characters seem melodramatic at times, but teenagers can be melodramatic. Even though most of the relationships are told in flashbacks, it's interesting to see how the alliances form and break and how many kids profess love for someone who has just unloaded a clip into their stomach.

I suppose there's also a commentary in there about losing innocence or something, but it kind of gets muddied in the episodic nature of the film.

Now, we do end up with the traditional triad of a hero, his girl and a friend, but I don't feel I can really say too much more without going into spoiler territory. Let's just say there is a traditional story going on here, but if you've watched more than, oh, I don't know, three movies, you'll probably figure out how things are going to end up by the end of the film. I just don't think the characters are entirely the point here.

So, how was it? I dug it, but it's kind of a turn your mind off and just watch sort of thing. The imagery is very powerful and there are some really tense, exciting scenes. In particular, Kiriyama, who is a ringer brought in to fix the game, is particularly fun, in a sadistic sort of way as is Mitsuko, who I gather is either a spoiled rich girl or some kind of loner. (Having 42 characters in the film doesn't leave too much time for character development.)

This disc, an English one from Tartan Asia Extreme, is one of the approximately 3,847 DVD releases of Battle Royale, non-US, of course. This is the regular cut of the movie, not the extended director's cut, which I've yet to determine if I'm missing out on not seeing. The image is soft and PAL so there's a slight speed up and you need equipment to play back PAL discs. The subtitles are fairly good, but they're burnt on, which is always kind of a bummer. Hardly a reference quality disc, but it's also a lot cheaper than the "progressive scan" version which is out of print. There's also a dirt cheap Hong Kong version, but that one is not anamorphic.

If you've read this far, I'd say you should probably snag a copy of this film which ever version you can find. It's certainly entertaining and if you can handle some over the top, black comedy based on a premise that would likely offend most of America, this is a decent way to spend an afternoon.

And who doesn't like Japanese school girls with automatic weapons?

Fun fact: this is the from same director that did the Green Slime.

* the other side of the story is Toei wants an unreasonably large amount of money for the US rights. *shrug*

Godfather: The Game PS2 Review

Officially the first game I've finished in 2007. Whoo hoo.

Yes, I know I'm late to the party on this one. After hearing about the upcoming PS3 and Wii ports, I almost wish I'd waited a little longer still, but I managed to find the Limited Edition cheap and a friend had just been raving about it, so whatever.

Anyway, when I'd heard EA was making a Godfather game, I was skeptical but interested. Movie games have a well deserved bad reputation and this isn't just the latest Vin Diesel vehicle we're talking about here. This is one of the greatest American films of all time. As details were revealed that showed the game as another in the long line Grand Theft Auto clones, it didn't do much to make me feel any better.

I'm pleased to say, Godfather is better than the average GTA knock off, but, at least in it's PS2 incarnation, it falls short of being a truly great game. While the game is free roaming, you are still tied to the story arc to advance. The story follows the movie with you as a rising member of the family. Some events are rewritten so you are involved, other things you learn about through cut scenes.

One quirk is a few major events in the Godfather's story line are mentioned by NPCs almost in passing. Like Vito's death, for instance. It's going to help if you're familiar with the movie first, because it's almost like they assume you know the story going into this game.

Aside from the story parts, you get to extort businesses and perform hits. Extorting businesses is pretty fun. Each shop owner has a level you can push them to where they will turn over protection money and if you push them farther, they'll fight back. Finding that balance is fun, but as you level up it becomes less and less of a chalange so by the end businesses just fold when you walk in.

The hits are kind of fun too as they always have a condition for bonus points and "respect". (Your respect meter is what allows you to level up.) For instance, you might have to kill a guy but you have to shoot him in the kneecap, shoulder and chin, in that order.

Other than that, you have to take over the rival family's warehouses, distribution hubs and compounds. Frankly, these missions get a little repetitious and are not helped at all by the fact that there's only a handful of building layouts. Once you get in a place, you know pretty much where everything is as you've seen it before.

And that's the Godfather's biggest flaw. Not only are the graphics kind of bland, there's not much variety in what you see. There's only five different vehicles, maybe a dozen (probably less) different buildings you go in, a lot of NPCs that look and sound the same, etc., etc. It just feels like this game needs a little more polish as these things feel a little rushed.

I also got really tired of driving everywhere. There's a lot of "meet X way up north, then go all the way over east, then down south" kind of stuff. It gets a little annoying after a while that you spend so much time in a car when the driving itself is rather boring.

Now, I'd say if you are a fan of the movie, it's worth playing, but I'd probably wait for a next-gen rev. Already the Xbox360 has more missions and (I think) the ability to recruit people to fight with you and supposedly has more of the polish the PS2 version needs. Additionally, the Wii and PS3 versions are supposed to use the motion sensing capacities of those system's controllers for the hand-to-hand combat (which I didn't mention but is kind of fun, even though it's not too far removed from button mashing.)

While Godfather the Game on PS2 isn't a total wash, it's hard not to think a movie this classic deserved a game equally so and this, unfortunately, isn't it. While it's going to be a fun diversion for fans of the movie and people wanting to play something until GTA 4 drops, unless the upcoming ports are amazing, this is an offer you can refuse*.





*(And I promised myself I wouldn't use that line...I am so ashamed.)

Kidd Video fan site.

Awesome stuff here: http://www.kvflipside.org/

I haven't seen this show is decades, yet I still remember it vividly. Cheesy? You bet. You can see a few episodes he uploaded to YouTube if you hit the episode guide.

Only in the 80s.

The dead have returned and they're selling popcorn.

Click here...slow loading, but worth it.

This is wrong on so many levels. Aside from the shockingly poor CGI, there's just nothing right about having Orval Reddenbacher talking about mp3 players, a technology not around when the man died. And what's up with the bobbing and weaving near the end?

Awful, truly awful.

New Consoles, Part PS3.

You many have noticed I haven't followed up with a post about my PS3 yet. Well, the reason is quite simple. I haven't played it much. There's a combination of reasons, some being there just aren't enough hours in the day. However, there's also the well documented dearth of software available for the system so far.

I don't plan to make this into yet another PS3 bash fest. You can find plenty of those all over the internet. But the fact is, so far my impression of the PS3 is pretty underwhelming. The hardware itself is impressive with the best build quality of a Sony console yet. (Which isn't saying a whole lot really.) The X Bar interface is pretty slick and PSP users will feel right at home with it. It runs a little loud and blows a little hot, but it doesn't seem like it's going to overheat.

I can't speak to the BluRay disc playing ability, though everything I've read says it's a pretty good player. I can tell you the DVD interface is a million times better than the PS2's, for what that's worth. You can also play SACDs, but you have to use the HDMI output and I've got nothing that takes that. Baah.

I haven't mentioned games yet, because frankly there's not a lot out there yet. I've got a couple, and they probably look as good as their Xbox360 ports. The Gran Turismo demo is a stunner though. Here's hoping they actually put some AI in that game this time around.

I'd never thought about how much the rumble feature adds to games and I'm really disappointed Sony didn't settle with that company to include it on the PS3. That's the biggest thing I've noticed. I mean there really isn't anything lacking on these games, but not having the rumble just feels several generations ago at this point and is really silly.

At this point, there really isn't much else to say. I think it's totally ignorant to say the PS3 is a failure at this early in the game, but let's just say I can't think of a whole lot to justify the high price tag at this point, unless you really want a BluRay player.

(Still, I'm not complaining that I got one for Xmas. Virtua Fighter 5 comes out next month. For me, that's a system seller right there.)

Most Awesome Commercial for a Borning Product Evar!

Seriously kids, it doesn't get much better than that.

I always wondered what the old Brawny man was doing since they gave him a metro makeover. Now I guess I know. Also, doesn't that sound like a Devo song? Does Mothersbaugh have a hand in that spot?

Oh, and in case anyone is wondering, I'm still here. I've been on vacation and been busy with stuff. Haven't had too much time for movies, though I've been playing a lot of Godfather the Game on PS2. I'll return to the normal blogging soon.

New Consoles, Part Wii.

It's weird how I'm a decidedly old school gamer who has little interest in the cutting edge next gen, yet after this Christmas we have two of the three next gen consoles in our collection. The Wii I gave as a gift to the fiance, as I was lucky enough to find one the week of Christmas (after all the bum luck I'd had in December, I guess I was due.) Then, after making a half joking comment to my father in law to be, I ended up getting a PS3 myself for Christmas. Weird how things work like that.

The Wii is kind of a nifty piece of kit. It looks a little like an external hard drive out of the box. I was kind of surprised at how easy setting up the motion sensor stuff was and that we've run the Wii on four different TVs in four different locations now and haven't had any major problems with the remotes (aside from everything losing sync once, which seems like a fluke.)

Rather than competing with Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo seems to be going for a different demographic. Sure, they're still playing to their traditional base of fanboys and kids, but there seems to be an emphasis on "non-traditional" gamers. From our completely unscientific research (we had it out at our New Year's party,) I can say it's working so far.

Everyone at the party wanted to try the Wii out and even the people who had no interest in Guitar Hero or the PS2 sitting there, were really enjoying themselves on the Wii. Part of this is that the controller is not intimidating. I'd never though about this until I heard one of our non gamer friends mention they were intimidated by the Dual Shock.

Speaking of the remotes, unless you are really flailing around or completely messed up on something, I can't see how people keep putting these things into TVs, ceilings, etc. I will say buying the controller gloves help, but even then, you've got to really be a spazz to let go of one of these. We had a room full of adults in various states on intoxication and not one was ever in danger of letting a remote fly, even the folks who were really putting English into the Wii Sports.
As to what you see on the screen, I think I can sum it up by saying the Wii is to the Gamecube what the DS is to the Game Boy Advance. It's not a quantum leap by any stretch. For right now, the graphics don't look bad, but looking at my PS3 running true HD, it's obvious the Wii is going to be left in the dust within months.

However, the interface is pretty easy to navigate and the whole thing is pretty intuitive. There's a built in weather and news channel, though the news isn't live yet. There's also a Mii channel, where you create a custom character for games that support it (right now, only Wii Sports does.)
My biggest beef with the system is you only have 512mb of internal flash memory. Considering how much they've hyped the Virtual Console, it seems odd to me they would have put such a small amount of internal memory in the system to hold downloaded games, game saves and who knows what else.

Speaking of the Virtual Console, I guess I do have a second beef with the Wii as a whole. While I think the idea of the VC is outstanding, the prices are a bit too rich for my blood. It's hard to justify paying $8 for a straightforward port of the SNES port of Street Fighter II when you could get the arcade version with online play and ranking on Xbox Live for the same price. And Genesis games at $8 a toss hardly seem like a bargain when the Genesis Collection for PS2 with 28 games retails for $20.

Of the two new consoles, I have to say the Wii has really captured the most attention both among Kristen and I and guests to the house. (I didn't even bother setting up the PS3 for the New Year's party and really, it wasn't missed.) I'm far from a Nintendo fan and I certainly did my share of mocking when I'd first seen the Wii mock ups. But I have to say, in action, the damn thing just makes sense.

There are two problems I see for the Wii's future. One is third party support. As anyone who has followed Nintendo knows, the company hasn't exactly had lots of third party support lately. Part of this may be retaliation for iron fist policies of the past, but I think a large part of this is due to Nintendo's against the grain consoles. The carts of the N64 and mini-DVDs of the Gamecube meant developers had to rethink any games they wanted to bring over to a Nintendo box. The Wii's radical controller only makes this a trickier situation.

Secondly, the Wii is going to need some games with real depth. So far, there's the new Zelda (which is also available on the Gamecube) but it seems like the rest of the Wii's library is pretty short on the kind of experience most gamers expect from modern games. Sure Excitetruck and Raving Rabbids are fun, but they are pretty shallow once you get past the novelty of the Wii controller.

I'll be interested to see what happens with the Wii. I don't think it's going to "win" the console wars, but I think a lot of people are going to buy it. At $250, it's not going to put too big a dent in most people's pocket and I think it's going to be a lot of people's second console. I also think the Wii is going to be a heck of a party toy for people who normally wouldn't care about video games at all.

Later I'll talk about the PS3 and the portables I got for Christmas. Yes, it was a video game Christmas around these parts. Ho ho ho.