Paramount Catalog Titles on Blu
- dwk
- Joined: Sat Jun 12, 2010 6:10 pm
Re: Paramount Catalog Titles on Blu
Blu-rays coming on June 1st:
In & Out
Rat Race
The Stepford Wives (2004)
In & Out
Rat Race
The Stepford Wives (2004)
- domino harvey
- Dot Com Dom
- Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm
- PfR73
- Joined: Sun Mar 27, 2005 6:07 pm
Re: Paramount Catalog Titles on Blu
Oh heck yes, Rat Race, finally! With Good Burger and Mouse Hunt, Paramount is on a roll. Orange County next, please.
100% serious
100% serious
- therewillbeblus
- Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm
Re: Paramount Catalog Titles on Blu
For my money, Rat Race has the worst ending in movie history. It also has Amy Smart though, which almost balances that out.
- domino harvey
- Dot Com Dom
- Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm
Re: Paramount Catalog Titles on Blu
Rat Race is one of the films the Baltimore City Jury Duty waiting area plays on repeat, one of about four or five films shown alongside the reigning champion, Hitch, which is shown literally every day
- therewillbeblus
- Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm
Re: Paramount Catalog Titles on Blu
Nothing like the intrusive sounds of Smash Mouth to make a bad day even worse
- PfR73
- Joined: Sun Mar 27, 2005 6:07 pm
Re: Paramount Catalog Titles on Blu
Jon Lovitz is comedy gold in this movie. I can't tell you how often members of my family quotetherewillbeblus wrote: ↑Mon Mar 08, 2021 3:42 pmFor my money, Rat Race has the worst ending in movie history. It also has Amy Smart though, which almost balances that out.
I'll just leave this here.therewillbeblus wrote: ↑Mon Mar 08, 2021 3:57 pmNothing like the intrusive sounds of Smash Mouth to make a bad day even worse
- bottlesofsmoke
- Joined: Fri Jan 08, 2021 12:26 pm
Re: Paramount Catalog Titles on Blu
My parents threw away the VHS of this movie because my siblings and I wouldn't stop saying we were "prairie doggin' it" any time we were all in a car together.PfR73 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 08, 2021 4:07 pmJon Lovitz is comedy gold in this movie. I can't tell you how often members of my family quotetherewillbeblus wrote: ↑Mon Mar 08, 2021 3:42 pmFor my money, Rat Race has the worst ending in movie history. It also has Amy Smart though, which almost balances that out.
- bainbridgezu
- Joined: Tue Jan 18, 2011 10:54 pm
- therewillbeblus
- Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm
Re: Paramount Catalog Titles on Blu
The footage of Cuba Gooding Jr. rigging the coin toss is kinda funny too in the stupidest possible way, but the film has enough awful moments where it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Orange County, on the other hand, has some solid laughs thanks almost entirely to Jack Black.
- cdnchris
- Site Admin
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Re: Paramount Catalog Titles on Blu
In Rat Race, I thought the Barbie museum gag was kinda brilliant, and I chuckle when I think about Dave Thomas' lawyer who was born "without a personality." Having a hard time recalling much else, though...
- PfR73
- Joined: Sun Mar 27, 2005 6:07 pm
Re: Paramount Catalog Titles on Blu
Rowan Atkinson also makes the movie. He's another one my family frequently quotes.
I love the culmination of the bus full of Lucy's all whining, and the post-Barbie museum Rube Goldberg machine involving Lovitz and Hitler's car.
I love the culmination of the bus full of Lucy's all whining, and the post-Barbie museum Rube Goldberg machine involving Lovitz and Hitler's car.
- flyonthewall2983
- Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:31 pm
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Re: Paramount Catalog Titles on Blu
You think they would have discovered HGTV or MyTV by nowdomino harvey wrote: ↑Mon Mar 08, 2021 3:50 pmRat Race is one of the films the Baltimore City Jury Duty waiting area plays on repeat, one of about four or five films shown alongside the reigning champion, Hitch, which is shown literally every day
- Monterey Jack
- Joined: Fri Jan 12, 2018 1:27 am
Re: Paramount Catalog Titles on Blu
Received the Aussie Via Vision release of Breakdown the other day, and it's a fantastic transfer, one of the best from the label to date. A nice selections of interviews and critical pieces, as well. Very recommended for an underrated 90s thriller.
- colinr0380
- Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:30 pm
- Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK
Re: Paramount Catalog Titles on Blu
As a big fan of the slow burning tension turning into inescapable horror of the original Stepford Wives film I remember watching the remake with my jaw dropped by how it managed to take material that pretty seriously approached female objectification and disempowerment by being trapped within specific rules of acceptable behaviour and turned it into a crass comedy that treated the themes in a much more flippant manner, with the horribly misjudged comedic tone and wacky underscore. Plus it rather undermined the men when they get portrayed more like comic inventors rather than a sinister Rosemary's Baby-style cabal. The way they are treated in the 1975 film is that they, whilst being sinister, end up seeming the most pathetic figures of all, thinking that they would be better off by replacing their wives with compliant robots to avoid their own feelings of inadequacy of being upstaged by them in all areas of life. And worst of all thinking that having someone programmed to simply selflessly cater to their every whim and fantasy, and not look better or worse than any other woman in the neighbourhood but exactly the same down to the same line in outfits (being all surface with nothing inside) and even vocabulary as everyone else, would be the answer to their true happiness rather than being the death of individuality and the spark of true soulful feeling. Their tragedy is that they turned away from their actual real wives who could have enriched their relationships for the superficial pleasures of nanny-dolls running endlessly looping pre-installed sex, shopping, cooking and small talk routines.
I also remember being rather upset by the approach to the Nicole Kidman character, which never convinces that she is just normally unglamorous and down to earth but more just a gorgeous movie star who has been 'frumped up to look average', much in the manner of Emily Blunt in that later Girl On The Train film. Which felt the most condescending thing about the whole film in the way that just that one aspect undermined the character that the audience should probably most be relating to (It felt strangely similar to Kidman's role in the remake of Bewitched that came just afterwards where both Kidman felt miscast to the opposite extreme, but also beyond that the wider film felt tonally misjudged as a whole).
Neither versions of the film are what you would exactly call subtle but the 70s film knows when to have its moments of humour and then when to have that shift into becoming something more disturbing, rather than piling on the wacky CGI just because it could be done at that point. Isn't there also a deleted scene involving Bette Midler's character having various household cleaning implements pop out of her robotic body? For contrast here's Paula Prentiss in the original and here's the same character in the remake.
It may be up there with the Wicker Man remake as one of the silliest remakes of classic 70s horror films from that period.
Last edited by colinr0380 on Thu May 06, 2021 2:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- Ribs
- Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2014 1:14 pm
Re: Paramount Catalog Titles on Blu
Last Train from Gun Hill and Mommie Dearest coming from Presents line in June.
- CSM126
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Re: Paramount Catalog Titles on Blu
Yes, at long last! This is the big one. Never before has there been (and probably never will there be again) a camp monstrosity as huge as this. An over-the-top "true story" about Christina Crawford being adopted, raised and tormented by the legendary film star Joan Crawford, I'm still not convinced this movie isn't supposed to be a parody of Christina Crawford's book rather than a serious attempt to adapt it to the screen.
Though it is likely that certain aspects of this film have a seed of truth, there is no way that this is an authentic film biography.......NO WAY. So, while a few incidents are loosely derived from fact, most of it is guilt-free hilarity. The movie doesn't do justice to the riveting book by Joan's adopted daughter Christina, committing to film the book's highlights, the talked-about bits where Crawford freaked out, but skimping on the details. We learn absolutely nothing about Christina's many tormented years in an L.A. Catholic Boarding School (we see her check in and we see her check out). Joan's marriage to to Pepsi czar Alfred Steele and her three other adopted kids are also given the short shrift. Christina's book was striking, but contained nothing as wild and vicious as this film presents. And it's entirely probable that some of Christina's memories were exaggerated by childhood perspective (although there's no denying that her mother was an obsessive, neurotic, steamroller of a woman.) Even Tina explained, in her book, certain aspects of the bad behavior which shed some light on Joan's actions. None of that is presented here. For example, the infamous rare meat scene...the film doesn't disclose that Joan paid high black market prices for the beef (during wartime rationing) and was appalled that Tina turned her nose up at it and wasted it. Also, the violent night raid scene is actually a compilation of two different occasions, etc.... The film tries to maximize and sensationalize everything and over-do everything to the point where it turns comic. Seen today, it is easy to identify the core problems of the film. The most obvious is the script, which is extremely inconsistent in quality and yet perversely consistent in a style that can only be described as soap opera kitsch to the extreme. This is particularly true of the dialogue assigned to Dunaway. Infamous lines such as "No More Wire Hangers Ever," "Tina! Bring Me The Axe," and "I'm Not Mad At You, I'm Mad At The Dirt" have become a staple of pop culture.
You can’t deny that Faye Dunaway, who lobbied hard for the role of Joan Crawford (Christina Crawford wanted Anne Bancroft), admirably sinks into the part with relish. I also think that despite Faye Dunaway's full-throttle acting, Joan always somehow comes off in a strangely sympathetic light. What we see is an insecure woman fighting for survival in an age-obsessed, male-dominated industry. Such scenes as Joan's heartless dismissal from MGM invite sympathy; while her snarling, veritable takeover of Pepsi Co. elicts cheers for her ballsiness and strength.
Dunaway (who has, herself, described her mesmerizing and ferocious performance as "Kabuki") is beyond fascinating to watch. She imbues the role with an intense, stunning magnetism which blows everyone else off the screen. Dunaway just radiates all the necessary star quality for the role. Faye Dunaway's priceless performance is truly mesmerizing. Somehow she conveys a character that is a perfect amalgamation of insanity, heroism, tragedy, tackiness, audacity, comedy, and utter strangeness.
That being said, Dunaway's acting "choices" are nothing if not idiosyncratic: clutching her bosom frantically as she cries, "You...deliberately...embarrass me in front of a REPORTER!"; copying the real-life Crawford's facial expressions from the horror flick "Strait-Jacket" in the axe-wielding scene; and, most famously, her odd, cross-eyed pose that she strikes not once, or twice, but three times: holding baby Christina on the staircase, rubbing moisturizer on her elbows after hiding Christina's dolls, and following her wire hanger/cleansing powder attack.
It is Dunaway's nostril-flaring, hair-pulling, bosom-clutching style that really sends this film into the camp stratosphere. Joan Crawford was a larger-than-life personality; the role is written to reflect this; Dunaway plays the role as it was written. But it would seem Perry sought to heighten the effect, no matter what Dunaway does with it, she can NEVER seem less than wildly overwrought in comparison to the rest of the cast, and the effect is very peculiar indeed.
All in all, is the film as bad as they make out to be? No, not at all. Mommie Dearest is such a fantastic anomaly that it almost feels blasphemous to critique it. Many people are confident in saying that it is a "bad" movie, or even that it's one of the "worst" ever made. I prefer to think of it as divine. It cannot be fully understood, only subjectively experienced. I do, however, agree with its critics that, no, it doesn't prioritize a coherent narrative structure. And no, it doesn't proffer class in its dialog, performances, or even its cinematography. The film is an amazing exercise in excess and on that level and in a comedic one it works.
- colinr0380
- Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:30 pm
- Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK
Re: Paramount Catalog Titles on Blu
In case anyone wants a refresher of the content of the film, there's a great Are Sounds Electrik video supercut of the best moments of Dunaway's performance. Warning: this video is pretty NSFW and features a lot of screaming, women getting shaken about, bratty kids being slapped in the face and wanton smoking!
- L.A.
- Joined: Thu May 28, 2009 7:33 am
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Re: Paramount Catalog Titles on Blu
Commentary from John Waters. Sounds nice.
- ianthemovie
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- domino harvey
- Dot Com Dom
- Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm
Re: Paramount Catalog Titles on Blu
It was included with another Kirk Douglas western on a DVD twofer from Paramount and all I remember is thinking both were forgettable and sure enough they were because I don't remember anything about either of them beyond that!
- Matt
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:58 pm
Re: Paramount Catalog Titles on Blu
Well I like it, but I’m partial to Westerns that are slow-burn morality plays. I also like John Sturges’ Bad Day at Black Rock and Hour of the Gun for similar reasons, much more so than his more famous Westerns. I think it’s also the kind of crusader-in-a-crisis role Kirk Douglas excelled in.
A 4K restoration from a VistaVision original ought to look fantastic (if Paramount can be trusted to do it right) but I’d wait for reviews and/or a sale in any case.
A 4K restoration from a VistaVision original ought to look fantastic (if Paramount can be trusted to do it right) but I’d wait for reviews and/or a sale in any case.