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Ten Great MGM/UA Films Criterion Should Issue On Blu-ray Now That They Are Collaborating Again!

 

 

In a move that made many movie fans unhappy, MGM pulled the rights to any titles they licensed to Criterion including The Silence Of The Lambs, This Is Spinal Tap and a few others early in the DVD days.  In addition, they were just about to issue an elaborate edition of The Usual Suspects, never reissued The Graduate, and never reissued their special edition of Brian DePalma’s Carrie (1976) that includes a solid audio commentary by film scholar Laurent Bouzereau (who wrote the book The De Palma Cut) and screenwriter Lawrence D. Cohen, publicity stills, posters, and lobby cards, plus a study of De Palma's filmmaking techniques that never appeared on the MGM Blu-ray.  They only shared the same trailer.

 

With Kubrick’s Paths Of Glory coming to Blu-ray with new extras and an upgraded transfer (Paths Of Glory, Killer’s Kiss and The Killing that Criterion issued a long time ago on the old 12” LaserDisc format), the companies will have plenty to issue including the other Kubrick films.  The James Bond films will not be among them, as the deluxe editions made of the first three Bonds by Criterion were pulled because Producer Albert “Cubby” Broccoli objected to some of the content and new mega-editions have been produced of all the films since.

 

We would like to suggest the following films be issued in the best possible deluxe editions on Blu-ray, including a few we suggested a few years ago and were never issued in any Blu-ray version:

 

 

You can read the list at this link:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10127/Ten+Great+MGM/UA+Films+Criterion

 

 

 

We would like to thank all those who have been ordering products from AMAZON.COM because of the work on this site.  We appreciate it, glad we are encouraging you to do it and want you to know it supports the site.  All purchases are appreciated.

 

Thank you!

 

 

 

As we always say, we offer a rich, alternative website for Blu-ray, DVD, book and film coverage that extends to music and television; we are in our seventh year and invite you to search for anything you are interested in.  At this point, you are likely to find something on just about anything you can think up.  Now for our latest………….

 

 

An Interview with Independent Filmmaker Christopher Golon

 

In a parade of quick-buck production companies, hacks thinking they’re filmmakers and posers amuck, it is always nice when we find a real filmmaker serious about telling stories and not only loves film, but actually knows something about it.  Though film schools can teach “fast food filmmaking” and the biggest studios can put out flashy, overproduced, empty product and pass it off like it is good, getting anything good made is much tougher than ever and even the independent scene has been on the empty side.

 

Christopher Golon is a filmmaker who has actually achieved something interesting with his new film Knock 'Em Dead, Kid, which we reviewed as our first online-only distributed feature (see link below), so we decided to interview the man about filmmaking, the industry, his work and why so many of the films you are seeing are disposable….

 

 

1)  As an independent filmmaker, what are current issues and problems you are facing now that you might not have been facing a few years ago?  How has digital video helped and hurt independent production?

 

The biggest challenge would be to figure out where to aim your movie.  What I mean by that is with the Internet and mobile media markets expanding daily, you have to know how to market your film and to whom.  Trying to get a theatrical release is a million to one shot unless you have name talent in your film or you 'four wall' the film yourself [, i.e., the producer(s)/filmmaker(s) rent the whole theater out (every seat) and charge admission on their own.  Tom Laughlin’s 1971 hit Billy Jack (reviewed elsewhere on this site) is an example how this lead to a blockbuster].  Digital Video has allowed filmmakers with little to no money, like myself, to go out and make a feature.  I would've loved to have shot in 16mm or 35mm but due to the costs associated with that - it never would've happened.  There's a movie called 'SMS Sugar Man' which was actually shot on a cell phone!  The director was quoted as saying that now no one has any excuse as to not having the equipment to make a movie.  I totally agree - pick up whatever camera you have available and go make something, anything.  It may not be the best idea or story but it keeps you creative.  And by taking matters into your own hands, you create your own breaks. Just try and make something that has something to say or is somewhat original.

 

But the downside is, with digital video being so affordable; this can create a glut in the direct-to-DVD marketplace of inferior garbage.  I'm not saying that I made ‘Citizen Kane' or 'Gone With The Wind’ but I made a movie with substance and for distributors to try and compare it to whatever horror-comedy Joe Hack makes with his digital video is unfair.  That's the problem facing low budget filmmakers today.  Everything gets put in the same basket and compared as 'the same.'  How is my film the same as all of these torture-porn rip-offs shot in someone's basement?  Just because they show a naked woman for 90 minutes, tied up in a chair, wearing nothing but fake blood, they get a distribution deal?  I could go on and on but I'm sure you understand my point.  I took inspiration from real life and great films whereas the hacks are trying to make a quick buck, most don't even care about the craft.

 

 

2) DVD sales are down and Blu-ray is slowly replacing them because they are low definition and the HDTV era is here.  Is the DVD market in decline and that is causing a glut or is the narrower than ever Horror productions pulling it down?

 

 

For the rest of the interview, go to this link:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9628/An+Interview+with+independent+film

 

 

Somerhill, Charles Constantino on 52nd Grammy Entry List

 

‘Free Your Mind (Tara Na),’ ‘Today or Tomorrow’ in categories of Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, Best Rock Song

 

The Recording Academy has selected Free Your Mind (Tara Na) and Today or Tomorrow, both performed by Somerhill, for inclusion on the 52nd Grammy Entry List in the category of Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.  The category of Best Rock Song on the 52nd Grammy Entry List includes producer Charles Constantino and Somerhill members Chad Gontkovic and William Rose for writing Free Your Mind (Tara Na).  Constantino and Rose are also in the category of Best Rock Song for writing Today or Tomorrow.

 

Click here to listen to a low-fidelity clip of Free Your Mind (Tara Na).

 

Click here to listen to a low-fidelity clip of Today or Tomorrow.

 

Winner of the 2006 Rockin’ in the Valley original music contest held by Our Town, Somerhill was the closing act for American Idol finalist Chris Daughtry in March 2007 in Pittsburgh.  In 2008, Core Media House L.L.C. released Free Your Mind (Tara Na) and Today or Tomorrow, both of which were digitally tracked, mixed and mastered at 24 bits/96 kilohertz at Treelady Studios.  Members of the Recording Academy vote from the 52nd Grammy Entry List, also known as the 52nd Grammy Awards Nominations Ballot, for the nominees for the 52nd Grammy Awards.

 

Somerhill is

 

Chad Gontkovic: lead vocal; backing vocals; electric guitar

 

Greg Kehl: backing vocals; electric rhythm guitar; electric guitar solo; synthesizer strings; synthesizer electric grand piano

 

Bill Rose: backing vocals; six-string and twelve-string acoustic steel guitars

 

With Somerhill were

 

Charles Constantino: electric bass guitar; acoustic nylon guitar; acoustic drum kit; synthesizer piano solo; synthesizer electric pianos; synthesizer shaker/triangle

 

and other performers

 

Charles Constantino and Chad Gontkovic wrote the lyrics for Free Your Mind (Tara Na) that include the phrase, “Tara na,” which is “Let’s go” in the Tagalog language of the Philippines.  William Rose and Charles Constantino wrote the music for Free Your Mind (Tara Na) and the lyrics and music for Today or Tomorrow.  The guitar-and-drum-driven Free Your Mind (Tara Na) and Today or Tomorrow combine rock, funk and jazz elements with four-part vocal harmony, vintage keyboard sounds, and unconventional mixdown touches.

 

“I learned a lot just being around him during pre-production and recording sessions.  I also learned the definition of meticulous,” remarked Chad Gontkovic of Somerhill about Core Media House cofounder Charles Constantino, who mixed and produced Free Your Mind (Tara Na) and Today or Tomorrow.  “He’s awesome.”  Greg Kehl noted, “Charles showed us how to turn our basic riffs and melodies into layers and layers of beautiful sounds.  It was fun to see someone with so much knowledge of music in his element while we were in pre-production and in the studio.”  “He’s just a musical genius,” Bill Rose said of Constantino in an interview for Our Town.  According to Rose, Constantino added “multiple harmonies, different back-up vocals, different types of singing, and different instruments that we hadn’t even considered.”  “The determination of Somerhill to evolve as musicians and songwriters impressed me.  I enjoyed my time with the group,” Constantino stated.

 

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Besides our constantly changing sidebar highlighting the best new discs available, we have a master list of key Blu-ray titles we constantly update.  The link to these highlights can be found at this link:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4249/Highlights+of+software

 

 

You can also put “Blu-ray” in our search engine for the latest coverage of software releases, at about 1,300 titles and counting including import titles you will not hear about anywhere else.  Keep checking in for exclusive analysis of all the latest releases, including many that most other sites and magazines have not covered!

 

 

 

Eliminating analog audio cables?  The industry might try it out!

 

We recently read about a very dumb idea by electronics manufacturers to eliminate analog component inputs, outputs and cable so they could go all-digital, from component audio inputs to S/PDIFs (coaxial and likely optical).  That may sound like a good idea to some and the companies would save some money, but the fact is, too many great components are out there and some only have analog interfaces.  In addition, digital sound is not always better than analog, especially if you are an audiophile with an ear and a brain.  Vinyl record fans and SA-CD (Super Audio CD) fans will particularly object, but part of this is over copyright control.

 

It sounds like a very bad idea and to be blunt, digital chords and cables are not really there yet in terms of overall performance.  We hope the better electronics manufacturers will object and stop this before they all regret this decision.  If not, we believe it will backfire in profound ways and eventually hurt their bottom line.

 

 

The 16mm Film/HD Debate

 

 

In the meantime, we are still keeping our eyes on the subject of what is or is not coming to Blu-ray and how 16mm plays into this.

 

Though we do not have a longer piece to deal with it yet, there is a controversy brewing over how compatible with High Definition and Blu-ray anything shot in 16mm is.  The latest on this comes out of Fox’s decision not to release The Shield in Blu-ray because the Super 16mm production is deemed not sharp enough or clear enough for Blu-ray despite being shown on cable, satellite and broadcast HD all these years.

 

We can see why a show that denatures its image and has a grainy production look like the show would concern the studio over potential returns, so we can see why they would veto the release, keeping it a DVD-Only affair.  However, do not think for a minute this means anything shot in 16mm is not HD compatible or ready.  Some have tried to make this argument, but it is a false one and we will get back to this subject soon.  With several titles on Blu-ray shot in 16mm (including some 35mm films with 16mm footage), it is important to get more specific in this matter.

 

Thanks for the early response on this one.  We’ll keep you posted.

 

 

 

 

The Best Film Magazine On The Market!

 

 

Though it is hard to argue the importance of film publications like American Cinematographer, Indie Slate, Cineaste or Moviemaker and what they deliver, but so much of film history and production is not being covered properly or of key films that deserve whole new audiences.  If you love film, you’ll love the new hit magazine Cinema Retro, which is getting bigger and bigger.  You may want to see about subscribing now while supplies last on the latest issue.   You can visit their site at:

 

www.CinemaRetro.com

 

 

“CINEMA RETRO" IS THE NEW MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO CLASSIC & CULT FILMS OF THE '60S & '70S. WRITTEN ABOUT AND BY THE ACTORS & FILMMAKERS OF THE ERA. EVERY ISSUE A LIMITED EDITION COLLECTOR'S ITEM!

 

 

Their site offer film news you cannot even find on IMDb, Variety or The Hollywood Reporter websites.  Then there is their amazing magazine, one of the best of its kind on the entire market and a must for any serious film fan, so good that many issues are selling out.  ISSUE #17 includes:

 

Interview with cover girl Valerie Leon about her fascinating career including roles as a Bond girl and Hammer horror star.

 

Ten page tribute to the classic horror film The Haunting featuring Todd Garbarini's unpublished interview with director Robert Wise and John Exshaw's fascinating history of the film, including insights from star Richard Johnson.

 

Dean Brierly's unpublished interview with David Carradine, who discusses the Kung Fu years and the Kill Bill films.

 

Producer David V. Picker recalls the filming of the cult comedy classic Smile starring Bruce Dern and Barbara Feldon.

 

Tony Dalton provides exclusive photos from Ray Harryhausen's amazing archive of original film props.

 

Christopher Gullo looks at the cult Blaxploitation/voodoo film Sugar Hill and interviews director Paul Maslansky and star Don Pedro Colley.

 

Storm in a D Cup: Dave Worrall celebrates the career of buxom beauty June Wilkinson.

 

How the West Was Won: Tom March takes us on a road trip to visit the present day locations seen in the Cinerama classic.

 

Cinema Retro reunites The Men From U.N.C.L.E. at the Players Club when David McCallum makes a surprise appearance at our black tie dinner for Robert Vaughn - exclusive photos.

 

Raymond Benson provides with his choices for the best films of 1976.

 

Gareth Owen looks at the shooting of Billy Wilder’s highly underrated The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes at Pinewood Studios.

 

Plus the usual extensive news about movie soundtracks, film-related books and hard-to-find DVDs. And that is just a single issue!!!

 

 

Contact the producers and get any issue to see for yourself.  By the way, back issues are running out as the magazine expands and does so worldwide.

 

They also have a special one-shot limited edition issue on the underrated thriller Where Eagles Dare and are about to issue a second on the Sergio Leone/Clint Eastwood “Man With No Name” Trilogy (A Fistful Of Dollars, For A Few Dollars More, The Good The Bad & The Ugly), so be sure to check things out over there if you love movies.

 

 

In the meantime, back to the site:

 

 

FulvueDrive-in.com is about providing the most direct, expert, detailed (without ruining anything for first time viewers and listeners, as we are not into spoilers), informative, fun, bold, vital information we can come up with.  That fun, yet College-level and all accessible way in which we cover material here benefit all our readers.  Some of them are getting the hang of our technical section, but others are starting to catch on.  We are doing our best to stay on top of the latest releases and what is happening or being released that you may not have heard about.  If it is something you know about, we will likely have information and observations you will get nowhere else.

 

 

Now for some other sites worth checking out…

 

The newest of a growing trend of sites covering only the high definition websites is High Def Disc News, whose primary content is authored by two big, enthusiastic fans: Justin Sluss and Brendan Surpless.  They have been up for less than a year and the site is already loaded with a surprisingly large number of reviews and news items.  See more at http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/

 

 

Our current theatrical film (and sometimes DVD) writer Dante Ciampaglia’s Crazy From The Heat blog is always worth checking out for comments on film, media and the world at large.  You can read him up at:

 

http://ciampaglia.typepad.com/crazedheat/

 

 

Daniel Johnson also has a solid movie blog.  He is a fine writer and implores “For amazing movie articles, crazy cinematic lists, and riveting reviews go to Film Babble Blog!"  The link is:

 

http://filmbabble.blogspot.com/

 

 

If you are interested in wild, wacky productions or something more ambitious and serious, you can check out the new website for Stone Phoenix Productions.  We figured it was worth including instead of the usual review and theory coverage:

 

http://www.stone-phoenix.com/

 

 

Continuing their winning ways is DVDBeaver, a site that covers DVDs and films from all over the world like no other, and is one of the only other sites besides ours to do so.  Their link is:

 

www.DVDBeaver.com

 

We believe that we are one of the few sites that manage to cover both the technical parts of filmmaking, as well as the content and form of the films themselves more thoroughly than you would usually find on other sites or in print.  They have reviews as well, but our favorite section is their ever-growing DVD Comparisons section, which features very technical details on several versions of a given film.  Often, they are even from different DVD Regions, but they are always accompanied by still images from each DVD covered.  Gary W. Tooze’s site is everything the net is supposed to deliver and we will be adding anything we can to contribute to their efforts as they do ours.

 

www.cinegeek.com is run by Stephen Lackey and has its own love of anything Sci-Fi, Horror, Fantasy or Cult.  The web needs more alternative sites like this, so be sure to visit them.

 

 

-- The Management


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