Monday, August 15, 2005

For Real, This Time: The DVD is available!

Despite all the delays, the DVD is officially out and available now. I have mine, which I received last week from the Film Threat store. And Amazon and Barnes & Noble both have copies now, so any others that still have it listed as "on backorder" should quickly follow suit. (Netflix will have it soon too, for those who are curious but don't want to purchase.)


There is a LOT of bonus material on this thing, much of which I haven't even seen yet. It will take ME a while to wade through it all, so I find it hard to imagine who among the general population will actually be interested in all of it. The phenomenon of the "Special Edition DVD" has meant basically meant that I get very excited about all the Bonus Features on the DVDs of my favorite movies, but it's rare that I actually get around to watching most of them.

As promised, here is a list of movies I WISH that Amazon would include in their "similar items" listings (which, incidentally, have once again vanished from our movie's page):


DONNIE DARKO-- this film doesn't really have too many similarities to our film, admittedly. But it does have one BIG connection in that it also features a terrific performance by Holmes Osborne as Eddie Darko (Donnie Darko's dad). Holmes plays Uncle Roy in our film, and it is worth checking out for his characterization alone....


SIDEWAYS-- another dark and funny comedy about two friends whose lives are spinning out of control. Plus Paul Giamatti sports a similar beard to the one I have in the film....


CHUCK & BUCK-- Variety mentioned this film when reviewing ours, which I was very happy about. I think it's a wonderful movie, and it has a similarly bleak and awkward tension from start to finish. The first time I saw this film, I knew almost nothing about the storyline, and there is moment in the first half hour that contains one of the most surprising developments I've ever seen in a movie.


AMERICAN JOB-- Chris Smith directed the terrific documentary American Movie, and I happened to catch this earlier feature of his on late night television in Great Britain some years back. I assumed it was also a documentary, and was convinced it WAS one for the first ten or twenty minutes, until I suddently realized that there was NO WAY they could have had so many cameras set up to capture everywhere the main character was going (out of his car, into a building, into an office-- they were ready for him anywhere.) The slow realization that this was a scripted film with actors was both disorienting and exciting, as the film is so painfully real and completely convincing in its portrait of an awkward young man shuffling from job to job in a haze of dissatisfaction and gloom. It is one of the best films I've ever seen, and it is a crime that it isn't available on DVD. (Only on VHS from the website at Americanmovie.com)


MODERN ROMANCE-- Albert Brooks has written and directed some of the Greatest Films Ever Made, and this one might be his finest achievement. Yet it remains his only film to never be released on DVD. Stanley Kubrick loved it, and went so far as to call Brooks personally to ask him how he did it, saying he had wanted to make a film like this for years. In a just world, there would be a Criterion DVD release featuring audio commentary by Brooks and his writing partner, Monica Johnson. In the meantime, it is only available on VHS.


THE OFFICE (UK version) -- This BBC phenomenon is a cult sensation in the US and is one of the great comedies of all time. 12 episodes and a two-part finale are all available in one DVD box set, and if you haven't seen this yet, rush out and buy it immediately.

Other titles I wish our film was linked to? Election (one of the best films of the past ten years, featuring Holmes Osborne in a small role), Husbands & Wives, Of Mice & Men (Sinise/Malkovich version), Arrested Development (just because it might be the best thing EVER), Wonderland (Michael Winterbottom film), and Shampoo. I guess this list has sort of evolved into a list of some of my favorite things rather than "items" which might be" similar." Oh well. Any of these is closer to our movie than Girls Gone Wild: Endless Spring Break Volume One...

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