Out to Space

I am moist with the news that The Adventure of Baron Munchausen 20th Anniversary Edition is out on DVD and blue-ray as Mack reports on twitch. And I have the same confession that I do not have any format of this movie at home. Shame on me. Although I missed out on the big screen as it was impossible to release the film in Thailand, so was another Terry Gilliam’s Brazil, I watched it several times on Laser Disc. Remember the format, anyone 30 up? It is definitely my all-time classic.

This is going to be my wish list. Pity my Birthday is still far away, let alone Greeting Season Holiday.

16 doses of shorts from UK masters.

It seems unreal that someone put my favourite filmmakers on the same disc: Ridley Scott, Peter Greenaway, Mike Leigh and even Martin Parr, who are more recognised as a documentary photographer. It is the compilation of early works that gave them the launch pads to their big career. You can find that shorts are likely be more freely creative, sometime more indulgent than feature length films. But that craft of producing a long movie is another complex story. And this proves how these directors still keep the their own story telling style.

The usual themes are about coming of age which is fair enough that artists’ first picks are close to themselves. Anyhow, growing up in the UK is just a tad out of my cultural references. They are just too bleak for my liking. The piece I like the most is Telling Lies by Simon Ellis with its humour and simple graphics. His first feature debut will be released soon. Watch out for this guy.

There are more in this Cinema 16 series: European, American, European (US Edition) and World which is due in early 2008. Can’t wait to see more.

Recently, BRW magazine announced 50 Australian’s Top Entertainers. The only none-performer in the top ten are James Wan and Leigh Whannell, the Creators of Saw series. The couple won the Hollywood lotto when they got the green light from the studio to finance the film. They make millions of dollars by churning the sequels every year. Saw IV is about to be released this year. I had to see the original on DVD with curiosity.

The story starts with a hi-concept, two men (Cary Elwes and Leigh Whannell) wake up to find out that they are chained in a filthy bathroom. They don’t know where they are, how or why they got there. They have to play death games of the mastermind, Jigsaw (Tobin Bell). While they are trying to get free, a cop (Danny Glover) is relentlessly trying to catch him. And of course, it ends up with ultra-violent climax and now predictable anti-climax.

There are the keys of this franchise’s success. Hollywood is always looking for new horrors but it has not been fresh lately. Jason’s Friday 13th cannot be resurrected any more. They’ve already remade Texas Chainsaw massacre. They’ve borrowed Japanese’s The Ring and The Grudge with sequels. George Romero’s made a come back with another zombie flick. Their last original horror as far as I can recall was Final Destination dated in 2000 and Hostel in 2005.

Saw fills the gap with the evil puppet master. Jigsaw is psycho, intelligent and unbeatable. It’s the combination of Hannibal Lecter, Jason and Se7en’s John Doe. Despite of many holes in the scripts and over-the-top acting of Cary Elwes and Denny Glover, it has the elements that this genre gives, the cinematography, the editing and unnecessary blood scenes.

An Aussie home-grown horror has cracked the international market with Wolf Creek in 2005 but it didn’t have the momentum push and Hollywood backup like Saw. They all are in the new blood of horror filmmakers group called the Splat Pack. Watch out for more blood shed and they make money.

This is pretty much the last bit of Anywhere Chairs project, making DVDs. Because I was working with my own tools not the school’s facilities, the first two DVDs with various of compressed file formats were made as the masters for Metro Screen and myself. They are in cases with printed covers. “It’s about the presentation” I told them while handing one of the masters. This new batch of five is given to other associates:

• City of Sydney
• Stilgherrian
• rafiralfiro

I keep one and will give one away. Interested, anyone? Just leave a comment on this post and tell us what item you would like to dump on the street the most. The DVD will be posted to the witty lucky winner which will be selected by the end of next week, Sunday 22 July 2007. Be imaginative.