Thursday, July 24, 2008

Compañeros vs. Compañeros

Here are two very different trailers for the exciting spaghetti western film Compañeros (1970, Sergio Corbucci).

First, here's the trippy Italian trailer, which shows you very little of the film, but showcases the awesome Ennio Morricone title song:



Then the American trailer, which features scenes:



Having seen the movie, I like the first trailer better—it's almost a satisfying short film in its own right—but I wonder if only the second could get anyone to actually see the movie, since the first one is kind of vague. In any case, check out the movie, 'cause it's really good (if you like spaghetti westerns, or have only seen the Sergio Leone Clint Eastwood ones). It's on good quality DVD, available from Netflix, etc.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

The André Téchiné Collection






















In an earlier post I mentioned there was a possibly important André Téchiné film (Hôtel des Amériques, 1981) buried on a Catherine Deneuve set from Lionsgate, but now Lionsgate has released the André Téchiné Collection with that same film included. With four films in total, the Téchiné set is clearly the one to get, for the director-oriented cinephile.

There's a review of it here on DVD Beaver, which is also who I can thank for pointing out this new set. The set contains:
Hôtel des Amériques (1981)
J'embrasse pas (I Don't Kiss) (1991)
Ma saison préférée (My Favorite Season) (1993)
Les Roseaux sauvages (Wild Reeds) (1994)

In that earlier post, I jumped through some hoops listing the Téchiné films that were formerly on DVD but seemingly out of print, but now that is corrected on this set, with two of them, Ma Saison préferée (My Favorite Season) (1993) and Wild Reeds (1994), being made available again.

Lionsgate has released some interesting director box sets of late, consistently in black, gray, and white packaging. Here are a few of them that are well worth checking out, especially the Godard one:





















Contains:
Passion (1982)
Prénom Carmen (First Name: Carmen)
(1983)
Détective
(1985)
Hélas pour moi (Oh, Woe Is Me)
(1993)






















Contains:
The Ring
(1927)
The Manxman
(1929)
Murder!
(1930)
The Skin Game
(1931)






















Contains: Gran Casino (1947) and The Young One (1960)
DVD Beaver review.

















Contains:
La Fille de l'eau (Whirlpool of Fate) (1925)
Nana (1926)
Sur un air de Charleston (Charleston Parade) (1927)
La Petite marchande d'allumettes (The Little Match Girl) (1928)
La Marseillaise (1938)
Le Testament du Docteur Cordelier (The Doctor's Horrible Experiment) (1959)
Le Caporal Épinglé (The Elusive Corporal) (1962)

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Good Eye

I found these accidentally on YouTube. Seems like they're from a collection of home movies (109 at the moment!), but the guy has a really good eye.

If you are the patient sort of viewer, these will appeal as minimalist cinematic exercises. All our home movies should be this good! Also enjoy the fact that almost no one has seen these, as each film (clip?) has only around 20 viewings or so.

T-Boston Collegue (Metro)


La nouvelle maison de Ksenia 2 (28-06-2008)


Le chien qui nages à L'Ile des Soeurs (11-05-2008)