Barfly (1987) Review

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(More customer reviews)Barbet Schroeder had long wanted to bring Bukowski to the screen, and finally found his vehicle in "Barfly," based on a screenplay he commissioned from Bukowski, who wrote a very amusing book, "Hollywood," on the making of the film, which is a must read for anyone who wants to gain a full appreciation for the movie.
Rourke was not Bukowski's first choice. Afterall, Rourke is an East Coast type, but he managed to fit himself to the role in fine gusto, taking on the persona of Bukowski in his early years in LA. Bukowski considered Faye Dunaway one of the last big-time Hollywood actresses, and speaks of her affectionately throughout his book. Bukowski didn't know what to make of Schroeder, who seemed to be singularly obsessed with Bukowski's life and times, to the point of trying to live it to capture the full essence of LA's skid row. Bukowski himself was enjoying a measure of success by this point, driving a BMW, an enjoying the finer things in life.
The film moves along at a brisk pace, bringing together a motley assortment of characters with Rourke playing his role to the hilt. Dunaway is first class as his punch drunk love. This is Rourke at his smarmiest best, take him or leave him, as one would Bukowski, who isn't everyone's bottle of muscatel.

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Downtrodden writer Henry (Mickey Rourke) and distressed goddess Wanda (Faye Dunaway) aren't exactly husband and wife: they're wedded to their bar stools. But they like each other's company - and 'Barfly' captures their giddy, din-soaked attempts to make a go of life on the skids.

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Bonnie and Clyde (1967) Review

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(More customer reviews)Warner Home Video is releasing newly remastered transfers of Bonnie and Clyde, with new special features, in several editions. Amazon is taking orders at the following links:
Standard DVD 2-disc Special Edition
Standard DVD 2-disc Ultimate Collector's Edition
Blu-ray
HD
The first three were released on March 25th; the HD version is due out on April 15th. Warner Brothers has announced that it won't support HD after May 31, 2008, so there may be a limited window to get the HD version.
The new transfers have been made from the "original elements," meaning stuff like original negatives or original prints. (See below for an update on the video and audio quality.) The special features announced, included in all the new releases, are these:
-- the full-length History Channel documentary about the real Bonnie and Clyde called "Love and Death: The Story of Bonnie and Clyde" (43:10)
-- a new three-part documentary about the making and releasing of the film and its relation to the real Bonnie and Clyde:
. . . "Bonnie and Clyde's Gang" (22:35)
. . . "The Reality and Myth of Bonnie and Clyde" (24:07)
. . . "Releasing Bonnie and Clyde" (18:06)
-- two newly discovered deleted scenes (5:23)
-- two trailers (4:11)
-- Warren Beatty's wardrobe tests (7:39)
The HD and Blu-ray editions will also include as a "high-def exclusive" a hardcover book (34 pages according to Amazon, 32 pages according to dvdbeaver) with a detailed production history, star/director filmographies and rare archival behind-the-scenes photos. The book is an integral part of the case. This isn't included in the standard DVD Special Edition.
The Ultimate edition will also include some non-DVD extras. Details are given in the earlier reviews of the Ultimate edition (January 17, 2008).
No commentary was announced, so I subtract one star. For some the making-of features may partially make up for the lack of commentary.
As for the movie itself, it's a landmark, but there are already many helpful reviews here about that ....
Update on the video and audio quality of the new releases (March 27th)
I haven't got my copy yet, but I've checked out some early professional reviews. All the ones I've seen that compare to the older DVD agree that the video quality of the new releases is much improved. I'll give some details from a sampling of reviews here for anyone interested, but the upshot is that everyone is pleased with both new transfers (HD not being out yet).
Standard DVD
DVD Beaver, which specializes in DVD image evaluations and comparisons, says the standard DVD 2-disc Special Edition video is "very strong," clean, with minimal noise. They report improved detail, contrast and color from the older DVD. Skin tones are said to be a bit on the red side (which is what most people prefer to accurate color). The image is said to have a glossy look at times, perhaps the same look described at DVD Town as "a little glassy."
The sound is the original mono, described by DVD Beaver as "clear and consistent." No one raves about the sound, but everyone finds it good overall, for mono.
The review at DVD Town finds the new transfer "excellent for a movie some forty years old." It mentions noticeable grain in some shots, but this may refer to scenes in which there was intentional grain introduced for effect. Also mentioned are occasional softness, skin tones a touch dark, but overall color "quite realistic." Says the definition is superb for standard DVD, contrast strong.
DVD Verdict says, "The remastered print looks very good, with strong colors and high contrast, and superb detail ...," with a little grain at times.
Blu-ray
DVD Beaver says the Blu-ray version is, as would be expected, even better. The darks are darker than on the new standard DVD, the brights brighter, very strong detail, with a touch redder skin tones, very minor noise. The image is said to retain a natural look.
The sound is described with very same adjectives as for the standard DVD: clear and consistent.
Home Theater Forum's reviewer calls the Blu-ray transfer's color fidelity "outstanding" and overall quality "excellent," including sharpness and detail. Blacks are said to be very black, though less so in the later part of the movie.
A review at High-Def Digest praises the Blu-ray image quality very highly, particularly the color, which it describes as vibrant, smooth and natural.
(I've posted the links to the reviews cited in the first comment for this review.)

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A SOMEWHAT ROMANTIZED ACCOUNT OF THE CAREER OF THE NOTORIOUSLYVIOLENT BANK ROBBING COUPLE AND THEIR GANG.

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The Towering Inferno (1974) Review

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(More customer reviews)Irwin Allen decided to follow up his "The Poseidon Adventure" success with the 1974 suspense-thriller "The Towering Inferno," a movie which also garnered an impressive 10 Oscar nominations and is released as a 2-disc DVD special edition this week.
Whereas in "The Poseidon Adventure" the leads had to travel up, the only way is down for Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, William Holden, Fred Astaire, Richard Chamberlain, Robert Wagner and Faye Dunaway. Attending the opening night gala the guests are trapped on the 129th floor of the world's tallest building which becomes an inferno thanks to the shoddy wiring system installed by chief builder James Duncan (Holden) and his electrician son Roger Simmons (Chamberlain).
Newman plays Doug Roberts, the proud architect behind the Glass Tower, a skyscraper, which dominates the San Francisco skyline at a height of 138-story's. Returning from a long vacation Roberts immediately recognizes that something is wrong and he is proven correct when a circuit breaker burns out and ignites garbage on a lower floor.
While the script can be a tad melodramatic at times, the effort put into this movie is obvious. Nominated for Best Picture and winning for best cinematography, best special effects and best song, the movie was a smash hit and still holds up well today in this age of blockbuster special effects extravaganza's.
As with "The Poseidon Adventure" the previous DVD release was sorely lacking in special features and has been replaced with three hours of extras. Joining the nine all-new featurettes which includes a retrospective, a look at the special effects and the art design is the AMC Backstory on the making of the movie, 32 deleted or extended scenes and an audio commentary by film historian F.X. Feeney.
Feeney's commentary is fascinating and comprehensive, covering all aspects of the production from the writing and dialogue all the way through to the sets and the sense of anticipation director John Guillerman builds up from the start. Feeney tells us that this movie was a milestone for Hollywood in that it was the first time two studios had co-produced a feature. Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox owned two separate books, "The Tower" by Richard Martin Stern and "The Glass Inferno" by Thomas N. Scortia and Frank M. Robinson, and both planned to make two competing movies on the same subject.
It was Allen who stepped in and proposed the historic deal and the two studios agreed, splitting first the cost and then the profit equally.
Though not for the full length of the feature special effects director Mike Venzina and stunt coordinator Branko Racki both individually comment on individual scenes. Verzina discusses eight scenes and Racki talks about nine separate scenes. Their observations are largely technical in nature and center on their selective specialties.
The longest of the documentaries is once again the AMC Backstory which runs 22:08. It is in this featurette that we learn that the model used for shots of the tower was itself seven stories high, that William Holden became aggravated with Faye Dunaway's tardy-ness to the set and that despite the media attempting to portray conflict between the two stars Steve McQueen and Paul Newman, the two actually got along well together with a mutual respect and friendly competition (as evidenced by a funny blooper).
The other featurettes range from 4:28 in length (on the directing of the movie) to 9:15 on the writer Stirling Silliphant. But they cover a wide range of topics from a retrospective by the cast and crew "Inside the Tower: We Remember" (8:16) in which Richard Chamberlain likens the set to being at a really glamorous Hollywood party day after day with the standard six star dressing rooms being increased to 15 to the architecture of the tower in "Still the World's Tallest Tower" (8:28) which compares The Glass Tower to other real-life skyscrapers and the impact these high-rise buildings have on the surrounding communities.
Other topics touched on include the safety aspects employed on the production in "Putting out fire" (4:58) in which Allen comments "You'd better have all the camera's rolling because fire waits for no man," and also reveals that firemen were on the set each day to "Running on fire" (5:52) which discusses the work of the stuntmen and includes the facts McQueen did not like anyone else doing his stunts and even Newman and Chamberlain did a number of their own stunts.
Also on this special collector's edition are 32 deleted or extended scenes that range from the 40-second "Still Waiting for the Elevator" which featuresshots of crowds of people pushing and shoving each other at the elevator and Holden's character assessing the situation on the telephone to the 2:55 clip "Four Alarm Fire" which covers the spreading of the fire through the building, the call from security requesting a four-alarm fire and shots of fire engines screaming through the streets of San Francisco.
All of the deleted or extended scenes were originally part of a longer television broadcast. Unfortunately their condition has deteriorated and they were deemed of too poor quality for Fox to include them through the popular DVD technique of seamless branching alongside the theatrical cut on the first disc.
Rounding out the special features on this release are three 1975 articles from "American Cinematographer" which run for a combined 83 pages and which, like those on "The Poseidon Adventure" DVD release, include selectable images which take the viewer to image galleries. These articles are all technical in nature and include discussion on how the movie was photographed and the work of the action unit. There are also six storyboard comparisons and five image galleries that range from shot compositions and costumes through to publicity and conceptual sketches.

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Item Name: The Towering Inferno (Special Edition); Studio:20th Century Fox

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