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DVD SUPPLEMENT
PARAMOUNT
PAYBACK-Straight Up: Even without being a director’s cut special edition, I guess we can use history to see that this was Mel Gibson’s sketch book for “Passion of the Christ”. A noir tale of double crosses that almost seemed like a historical piece since it didn’t seem like Porter would go through all the crap he did just for $70,000 in 1999. Lots of blood, guts, quotable lines, gratuitous Lucy Liu acting in a way we’d like to think she isn’t acting…Joe Bob gives it a…wait, wrong column. Mel Gibson dishing up the violence for the sake of violence in the pic that lost him his deal at Warners and even Homer Simpson quotes it. Since it is a director’s cut special edition, there’s a lot of juicy, new nuance for this pic’s fans to enjoy. The director had been fired off this pic before completion, and this cut actually makes more sense than the original cut even if some of the best loved violence has been taken out. Check it out.
MAHOGANY: I asked my pop to review it and he was pissed off that he waited around two hours and there were no Kurt Weill songs. Drop us a line if you get the joke. But seriously folks, this was a pretty radical pic for 1975. Conceived as a star vehicle for Diana Ross, it was the standard poor girl makes good story, but the curve balls in the trajectory were her dumping her boy friend for whitey. A well made entertainment right down to the Oscar nominated song, fans of Ross’s glory days are sure to lead the way in grabbing copies of this.
TO CATCH A THIEF: Hitchcock and Grant had a nice little run of stylish thrillers going. Add Hitchcock’s fave ice queen, Grace Kelly to the mix and you get a pic that is a time piece but has stood up well 50 years later. The quiet chick gets turned on by the bad boy and Hitch does the rest. With exotic locations and erotic situations for the 50’s mainstream cinema you get all the elements you need for a Hitchcock classic.
HAPPY DAYS second season: Long suffering collectors will be glad to finally get season two after a several year wait. The tweaking begins as Fonzie gets promoted in the shows pecking order, he gets his leather jacket, he plays “Hamlet” and life became one big “Ayyyyyyyy”. With Opie Cunningham and the rest of the gang delivering the rest of the schtick about coming of age in Milwaukee in the 50’s, it’s a city version of corn pone humor that can be enjoyed for decades to come.
DREAMGIRLS: For an “urban” pic, this pic has incredible bubby appeal. When we saw it in the theater, all the old people stood up and cheered at the end of it. The actors can’t hear you! But, that’s how powerful and entertaining this mainstream “urban” pic is. A lot of people have the mistaken notion they understand the record business after seeing this, but that’s really the only negative. Very entertaining, across the board entertainment, it’s a movie movie from start to finish that is loaded with crisp performances and a few showstopper numbers. It’s the kind of pic that was made for movie fans that want to be entertained every Friday.
Volume 30/Number 173
April 22, 2007
MIDWEST RECORD
830 W. Route 22 #144
Lake Zurich, IL., 60047
CHRIS SPECTOR, Editor and Publisher
(c)2007 Midwest Record
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