<< Promoting 'Into Darkness' | Blog Home | Tech Talk in Toronto >>

 

New on Disc: 'Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie' and more …

16 Sep, 2013 By: Mike Clark

---

Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie (Blu-ray)

Shout! Factory, Comedy, $29.93
Blu-ray/DVD, ‘PG-13’ for some sexual humor.
1996. This is the first home release I can recall that takes considerable pains to rectify the historical damage the movie it showcases perpetrated when playing (however briefly) theatrically, in this case 17 years ago. But to momentarily go the other way, let’s not put too fine a point on any mea culpa aspects here because the target of the snarky MST3K commentators in this case — Universal-International’s This Island Earth from 1955 — is, on certain levels, undeniable cheese. At only 74 minutes, MST3K is a spotty affair, but what makes the disc interesting are a couple supplements. The filmmakers are surprisingly frank about how studio suits watered down the hipness that made the TV show so great and persistently failed to get the wisecracking cultural references.
The other key extra devotes 36 minutes to director Joe Dante and several more to defend the ’55 Earth and lambast what MST3K did to it.
Read the Full Review

Me and My Gal

Manufactured on demand via online retailers
Fox, Drama, $19.98 DVD, NR.
Stars Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett, Marion Burns.
1932. For a cop-in-love comedy filmed before the repeal of Prohibition, which is easy to forget during its rapidly paced unreeling, this cult Raoul Walsh jewel is immersed in suds. Walsh and enough screenwriters to fill a saloon take an anything-goes approach to the narrative, which casts Spencer Tracy as a lovably lunkish Irish New York cop, and the result has a marvelous loosey-goosey feel that is the antithesis of MGM during the period.
Read the Full Review
 

Bookmark it: