Page 54 - Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Observer Showbiz What’s Hot and What’s Not in DVD and Blu-Ray
www.MelbourneObserver.com.au
Movies, DVDs
With James Sherlock
Reviews by Aaron Rourke
HERBERT LOM September 11 1917 September 27 2012
● R. Lee Ermey gives a standout performance as the brutal Gunnery Sergeant in Stanley Kubrick's powerful and unrelenting Full Metal Jacket FILM: ALFRED HITCHCOCK MASTERPIECE COLLECTION [Limited Edition]: Cast: James Stewart, Rod Taylor, Grace Kelly, Sean Connery and Many More! Genre: Drama/Thriller. Year: Assorted Years. Rating: M. Running Time: Assorted Running Times. Format: DVD and BLU-RAY. Stars: ***** Verdict: A spectacular collection of 14 classic and groundbreaking films from the great Alfred Hitchcock, all together for the first time in high definition. The titles include: Saboteur, Shadow of a Doubt, Rope, Rear Window, The Trouble with Harry, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Vertigo, Psycho, The Bird, Marnie, Torn Curtain, Topaz, Frenzy and Family Plot. Lots of thrills and chills for everyone! This wonderful collection is also loaded with over 15 hours of bonus features. Highly recommended! FILM: FULL METAL JACKET - Deluxe Edition: Cast: Matthew Modine, Vincent D'Onofrio, R. Lee Ermey. Genre: War/Drama. Year: 1987. Rating: R18+ Running Time: 108 Minutes. Format: DVD and BLU-RAY. Stars: ****1/2 Verdict: Legendary auteur filmmaker Stanley Kubrick's haunting journey of a U.S. Marine who observes the dehumanizing effects the Vietnam War has on his fellow Marine recruits from their boot camp training to the bloody fighting in Vietnam in 1968 is a powerful, thought provoking and unforgettable experience that excels on every filmmaking and storytelling level. Special mention to the jaw-dropping performances from R. Lee Ermey as the brutal Gunnery Sergeant and Vincent D'Onofrio as the Pvt. Definitely not for the fainthearted, this is sure to leave you shell shocked. FILM: LONELY ARE THE BRAVE: Cast: Kirk Douglas, Walter Matthau, Gena Rowlands. Genre: Western/Drama. Year: 1962. Rating: PG. Running Time: 107 Minutes. Format: DVD. Stars: ****1/2 Verdict: What starts out as a simple adventure, soon evolves into a thrilling, multi-layered journey where two cultures and ideologies clash, when past meet the present head-on, and a single man and a horse go up against the might of machine and modern day man across the once open, but now seemingly endless barriers which now dominate the 20th century landscape. This is a bona fide classic, an engrossing and highly charged film that is more relevant today than the day it was made. FILM: SUSPIRIA: Cast: Jessica Harper, Alida Valli, Eve Axen. Genre: Horror. Year: 1977. Rating: R18+ Running Time: 98 Minutes. Format: DVD and BLU-RAY. Stars: *** Verdict: Italian horror master Dario Argento [Deep Red, The Bird With The Crystal Plumage] is in top form with this thriller-chiller of a newcomer to a ballet academy who gradually comes to realize that the staff of the school are actually a coven of witches bent on chaos and destruction. Beautifully filmed, this is definitely not for the squeamish, and is sure to raise more than a few goose bumps along the way, especially with Halloween just around the corner.
■ Accomplished actor Herbert Lom sadly passed away on Thursday September 27, aged 95. With an acting career that spanned over 67 years, Mr Lom would become a very familiar face with millions of film-goers, and delivered a number of memorable performances. Born in Austria under the name Herbert CharlesAngelo Kuchacevich Schluderpacheru, Mr Lom understandably changed his name when he decided to become an actor. After making his debut in the 1937 Czechoslovakian film Zena pod Krizem, Mr Lom would soon travel to England, where he played Napoleon in The Young Mr Pitt (1942), directed by the renowned Carol Reed (Odd Man Out / The Third Man / Oliver). Astring of movies followed (mostly Nazi war dramas and crime stories), such as At Dawn We Die (1943), directed by George King; The Seventh Veil (1945); Night Boat To Dublin (1946); Appointment With Crime (1946); Dual Alibi (1948); Snowbound (1948); and Lost Daughter (1948), directed by Terence Fisher and co-starring Mai Zetterling. Mr Lom scored well in the role of Rankl in the effecient adventure film Golden Salamander (1950), directed by Ronald Neame (The Poseidon Adventure) and starring Trevor Howard, and fared even better as Kristo in the film noir classic Night And The City (1950), directed by Jules Dassin (Rififi), and also starring Richard Widmark and Gene Tierney. The latter was remade in 1992 (starring Robert De Niro), but is definitely inferior to the strong, stark original. From then on, Mr Lom's career was assured. Some of the films that followed were the period adventure/ drama The Black Rose (1950), directed by Henry Hathaway (How The West Was Won) and photographed by Jack Cardiff (The Red Shoes / Black Narcissus); the Ealing noir Cage Of Gold (1950), directed by Basil Dearden (Victim / The League Of Gentlemen); Hell Is Sold Out (1951), directed by Michael Anderson (The Dam Busters); and Twist Of Fate (1954), starring Stanley Baker and Ginger Rogers. Then along came what would become one of Mr Lom's most famous and beloved films, The Ladykillers (1955), an Ealing Studios classic that also starred Alec Guiness (and those teeth) and Peter Sellers. A wonderful black comedy, directed by Alexander Mackendrick (Whisky Galore) and written by William Rose, this very dry story of a group of crooks having their perfect robbery undone by a sweet old lady is one of the best movie comedies of all-time, and Mr Lom is brilliant as the shorttempered Mr Harvey. Mr Lom's wide range of films continued with War And Peace (1956), directed by King Vidor, and starring Audrey Hepburn and Henry Fonda (this expensive but uneven adaptation would be easily surpassed a decade later with the glorious Russian version by director Sergei Bondarchuk); Fire Down Below (1957), starring Robert Mitchum and Jack Lemmon; the taut thriller Hell Drivers (1957),
inspired by the 1953 French classic The Wages Of Fear, directed by Cy Endfield (Zulu), starring Stanley Baker, and featuring a young Sean Connery; Chase A Crooked Shadow (1958), again directed by Anderson and starring Richard Todd; Intent To Kill (1958), directed by Jack Cardiff; The Roots Of Heaven (1958), directed by John Huston (The Maltese Falcon); the exciting adventure film North West Frontier (1959), starring Kenneth More and Lauren Bacall; Third Man On The Mountain (1959), directed by Ken Annakin; the Oscarwinning epic Spartacus (1960), directed by the legendary Stanley Kubrick and starring Kirk Douglas; and the under-rated Jules Verne adaptation Mysterious Island (1961), again helmed by Endfield, where Lom was very convincing as Captain Nemo. Mr Lom's cinematic output was certainly prolific, with films such as Villa Rides (1968), another underrated film, starring Robert Mitchum, Yul Brynner, and Charles Bronson, and is co-written by Sam Peckinpah (this makes a great double with The Wrath Of God (1972), which also stars Mitchum); 99 Women (1969), directed by cult film-maker Jess Franco; Journey To The Far Side Of The Sun (1969), where he is involved in one of the best endings ever; Count Dracula (1970), once again directed by Franco; Murders In the Rue Morgue (1971) with Jason Robards; the entertaining anthology film Asylum (1972), directed by Row Ward Baker (Quatermass And The Pit); And Now The Screaming Starts (1973); and Ten Little Indians (1974), directed by Peter Collinson (The Italian Job). Mr Lom then co-starred in what would be his most recognisable role, that of Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus in Blake Edwards' megasuccessful Pink Panther series. Mr Lom, who was nothing short of hilarious, would appear in The Return Of The Pink Panther (1975), The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976), Revenge Of The Pink Panther (1978), Trail Of The Pink Panther (1982), Curse Of The Pink Panther (1983), and what would be his final film, Son Of The Pink Panther (1993), which starred Roberto Benigni (Life Is Beautiful). Other later films included the amusing Hopscotch (1980), directed by Ronald Neame, and starring Walter Matthau and Glenda Jackson; The Dead Zone (1983), an excellent Stephen King adaptation directed by David Cronenberg (Dead Ringers / Eastern Promises), and starring Christopher Walken; Whoops Apocalypse (1988) with Peter Cook; La Setta (1991), directed by Michele Soavi (Cemetery Man) and co-written by Dario Argento (Suspiria); and The Pope Must Die (1991), starring Robbie Coltrane (Cracker). Mr Lom's TV credits were small, but included high-profile shows like The Man From U.N.C.L.E, Hawaii Five-0, and Lace. His final TV appearance was in Marple : The Murder At The Vicarage (2004). - Aaron Rourke
Melbourne
Observer
Top 10 Lists THE AUSTRALIAN BOX OFFICE TOP TEN: 1. MADAGASCAR 3: EUROPE'S MOST WANTED. 2. LOOPER. 3. HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA. 4. DIARY OF A WIMPY KID - DOG DAYS. 5. THE WATCH. 6..ARBITRAGE. 7. RESIDENT EVIL: RETRIBUTION. 8. THE SAPPHIRES. 9. KATH & KIMDERELLA. 10. RUBY SPARKS. NEW RELEASES AND COMING SOON TO CINEMAS AROUND AUSTRALIA: OCTOBER 4: I WISH, MENTAL, SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN, TAKEN 2. OCTOBER 11: KILLING THEM SOFTLY, LAWLESS, SHADOW DANCER, THE WEDDING PARTY, THE WORDS, WUTHERING HEIGHTS. THE DVD TOP SELLERS: 1. THE DICTATOR [Comedy/Sacha Baron Cohen, Megan Fox]. 2. WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU'RE EXPECTING [Comedy/ Cameron Diaz]. 3. THE AVENGERS [Action/Adventure/Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner]. 4. THE RAVEN [Thriller/John Cusack, Brendan Gleeson, Luke Evans]. 5. THE HUNGER GAMES [Action/ Jennifer Lawrence, Woody Harrelson]. 6. THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL [Comedy/Drama/Judi Dench, Bill Nighy]. 7. DARK SHADOWS [Horror/Comedy/Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham-Carter, Michelle Pfeiffer]. 8. MEN IN BLACK 3 [Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin]. 9. IRON SKY [Science Fiction/ Udo Kier, Julia Dietze]. 10. THE FIVE YEAR ENGAGEMENT [Comedy/Emily Blunt, Jason Segel]. Also: AMERICAN PIE: REUNION, MIRROR MIRROR, THE WAY, THE WOMAN IN BLACK, THE PIRATES! BAND OF MISFITS, SAFE, SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN, BATTLESHIP, 21 JUMP STREET. NEW RELEASE HIGHLIGHTS ON DVD THIS WEEK: GET THE GRINGO [Action/Mel Gibson]. THAT'S MY BOY [Comedy/Adam Sandler]. WHITE VENGEANCE [Action/Leon Lai, Anthony Wong]. NEW & RE-RELEASE CLASSICS ON DVD HIGHLIGHTS: THE ARISTOCATS: Special Edition [Disney/Family/Animated]. THE FINAL COUNTDOWN [Sci-Fi/ Action/Kirk Douglas, Martin Sheen]. THE RESCUERS [Family/Animated/ Adventure]. THE RESCUERS DOWN UNDER [Family/Animated/Adventure]. NEW RELEASE TELEVISION, DOCUMENTARY AND MUSIC DVD HIGHLIGHTS: THROUGH THE WORMHOLE WITH MORGAN FREEMAN: Season 1 & 2. Turn To Page 59