Where dead media lives.
The Mystery of Rampo on VHS. Special Academy Edition. Starring Naoto Takenaka, Michiko Hada, Masahiro Motoki, Mikijirô Hira. Directed by Kazuyoshi Okuyama. 1994.
From the box:
For Your Consideration
Best Cinematography
Yasushi Sasakibara
Best Music
Akira Senju
Special Academy Edition
DVD upgrade: The Mystery of Rampo
Mr. Vincent on VHS. Starring Frank John Hughes, Lisa LoCicero, Mimi Scott, Shoshana Ami, Robert Bruzio, Dana Chaifetz. Directed by Robert Celestino. 1997.
From the VHS box:
First Rites @ Hollywood Video
Mr. Vincent is the character study of a struggling song writer who obsesses over the woman in his life.
Robert Celestino
Robert has made several narrative shorts and documentaries. Robert’s fascination with obsessive and extreme behavior is established with his award-winning feature, MR. VINCENT, which premiered at the Sundance film festival. Robert studied filmmaking at the New School in New York City.
First Rites: The Only Monthly Film Festival You Can Take Home
First Rites showcases the films of emerging American directors. Each month, First Rites highlights the best in independent filmmaking, seeking out filmmakers who “make a statement.” These films can be found only at Hollywood Video.
DVD upgrade: Mr. Vincent
Clear and Present Danger on VHS. Starring Harrison Ford. With Willem Dafoe, Anne Archer, Joaquim de Almeida, Henry Czerny, Thora Birch, James Earl Jones. Directed by Phillip Noyce. From a Tom Clancy novel. 1994.
From the box:
Truth Needs A Soldier
Harrison Ford returns as intrepid CIA agent Jack Ryan in this critically acclaimed box-office smash from the producers of Patriot Games. When his mentor Admiral James Greer (James Earl Jones) becomes gravely ill, Ryan is appointed acting CIA Deputy Director of Intelligence. His first assignment: investigate the murder of one of the President’s friends, a prominent U.S. businessman with secret ties to Colombian drug cartels. Unbeknownst to Ryan, the CIA has already dispatched a deadly field operative (Willem Dafoe) to lead a paramilitary force against the Colombian drug lords. Caught in the crossfire, Ryan takes matters into his own hands, risking his career and life for the only cause he believes in — the truth.
DVD upgrade: Clear and Present Danger (Special Collector’s Edition)
Read the book by Tom Clancy: Clear and Present Danger (Jack Ryan)
Easy Rider on VHS. Movie starring Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Jack Nicholson. With Toni Basil, Karen Black, Phil Spector. Directed by Dennis Hopper. 1969.
From the VHS cover:
A man went looking for America and couldn’t find it anywhere…
Experience the real, uncensored sixties counterculture in this compelling mixture of drugs, sex and armchair politics. In the role that catapulted him to stardom, Jack Nicholson portrays an alcoholic attorney who hooks up with two part-time, drug-dealing motorcyclists (Fonda and Hopper) in search of their “American Dream.” Heading from California to New Orleans, they sample the highs and lows of America the Beautiful in a stoned-out quest for life’s true meaning.
DVD upgrade: Easy Rider (Special Edition)
The music: Easy Rider: Music From The Soundtrack (1969 Film)
Part sequel, part prequel, Easy Rider: The Ride Back (straight to the dustbin according to reviews): Easy Rider: The Ride Back
Bad Lieutenant on VHS. Starring Harvey Keitel, Victor Argo, Paul Calderon, Leonard L. Thomas. Directed by Abel Ferrara. 1992.
From the box:
Gambler. Thief. Junkie. Killer. Cop.
He has survived on the streets for twenty years. He’s a gambler… a thief… a junkie… a killer and a cop. Now he’s investigating the most shocking case of his life, and as he moves closer to the truth his self-destructive past is closing in.
Harvey Keitel gives a searing performance as an out-of-control police detective on a collision course in director Abel Ferrara’s brilliant and deeply disturbing melodrama.
DVD upgrade: Bad Lieutenant (Special Edition)
20,000 Leagues Under The Sea on VHS. Adventure drama fantasy movie starring Kirk Douglas, James Mason, Paul Lukas, Peter Lorre. Based on the novel by Jules Verne. Directed by Richard Fleischer. 1954.
From the box:
Plunge into the most spellbinding undersea adventure ever filmed! The evil, renegade mastermind Captain Nemo (James Mason) pilots the fantastic submarine Nautilus on a memorable, adventure-filled journey beneath the seven seas in this Academy Award-winning classic. Held aboard the craft are three survivors of a shipwreck who, as involuntary guests of the sinister genius, witness the spectacular beauty and terrifying dangers of Nemo’s world — from an attack by a giant squid to the captain’s [spoiler removed].
DVD upgrade: Disney’s 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Free 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (Free e-book): Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea
Look, a non-sun bleached VHS copy: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Fantastic Planet aka La Planete Sauvage on VHS. Starring Barry Bostwick, Cynthia Alder, Jennifer Drake, Eric Baugin. Music by Alain Goraguer. Animation by Roland Topor. From the book by Stephan Wul. Directed by Rene Laloux. 1973.
From the VHS box:
This acclaimed animated science-fiction/fantasy classic from France weaves a spell with its colorful imagery and strange beings. The inhabitants, 39 feet high Draags, have tiny human looking creatures called Oms, as pets. Education is obtained electronically through headsets. When one on the Oms escapes with the educational device, he rallies the others to resist the giant Draags.
Upgrade the Fantastic Planet: Fantastic Planet on DVD
Read the Fantastic Planet: Fantastic Planet Paperback by Stephan Wul
Listen to the Fantastic Planet: La Planete Sauvage Soundtrack by Alain Goraguer
Big Fish on VHS. Adventure drama fantasy movie starring Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Billy Crudup, Jessica Lange, Helena Bonham Carter, Alison Lohman, Robert Guillaume, Marion Cotillard. With Steve Buscemi, Danny DeVito, Deep Roy, Destiny Cyrus. Directed by Tim Burton. 2003.
From the VHS box:
An Adventure As Big As Li[obscured by sticker]
Throughout his life Edward Bloom has always been a man of big appetites, enormous passions and tall tales. In his later years, portrayed by five-time Best Actor Oscar nominee Albert Finney, he remains a huge mystery to his son, William. Now, to get to know the real man, Will begins piecing together a true picture of his father from flashbacks of his amazing adventures in this marvel of a movie.
DVD upgrade: Big Fish (Special Edition, with Collectible Book)
Samuel Fuller’s The Big Red One on VHS. Starring Lee Marvin, Mark Hamill, Robert Carradine, Bobby Di Cicco, Kelly Ward, Siegfried Rauch, Stephane Audran. Directed by Samuel Fuller. 1980.
From the VHS cover:
The real glory of war is surviving.
The combat-hardened sergeant squints at the members of his rifle squad. His face is lined and stubbled. The faces that look back are as smooth as summer peaches. They belong to kids right out of high school. And it’s the sergeant’s job to keep those kids alive.
The Big Red One, named for the insignia of the First Infantry Division, is the unsparing story of a handful of GIs battling their way from North Africa through Sicily, Omaha Beach and Belgium to the ultimate horror of the Nazi death camps. Academy Award winner Lee Marvin (Cat Ballou, The Dirty Dozen) plays the sergeant, and he’s joined by a talented young cast including Star Wars veteran Mark Hamill and Revenge of the Nerds alumnus Robert Carradine.
The writer/director is Samuel Fuller (Pickup on South Street, Merrill’s Marauders), one of the most influential filmmakers in Hollywood history. Fuller was actually in the Fighting First during World War II. He knows that to a soldier, war is no bigger than a single foxhole or a desperate 20-yard run up a beach — and that while generals ask “Will we win?,” the dogface asks “Will I survive?” And that means The Big Red One may be the most immediate, truest war movie you’ve ever seen.
“The real glory of war,” Fuller says, “is surviving.” And the real glory of The Big Red One is how powerfully it captures that idea.
DVD upgrade: The Big Red One: The Reconstruction
John Boorman’s The Emerald Forest on VHS. Movie starring Powers Boothe, Charley Boorman, Meg Foster, Estee Chandler. Directed by John Boorman. 1985.
From the VHS cover:
REEL DEAL
Powers Boothe is Bill Markham, an engineer helping civilization conquer the world’s last savage frontier, the Amazon. Charley Boorman is Markham’s son who, one day, at the jungle’s edge, disappears. Markham returns to the Amazon year after year, searching for his son. Then, after ten years, Markham finds the man who had once been his boy, but now is a warrior from a different world.
Director John Boorman’s brilliant visualization breaths life, danger and ancient mystery into this captivating adventure. Based on a true story, The Emerald Forest is a penetrating look at a savage and mesmerizing world.
DVD upgrade: The Emerald Forest
