EDGE’s Top 12 DVD’s Of 2007 - Part 1
Sure, we could have regurgitated the same old picks you’ve read in the national magazines, gushing like some college student who has just learned words like "zeitgeist" and "mise-en-scene,"¯ but we don’t roll like that. Instead, here are a dozen mostly forgotten DVD releases from 2007, "an Island of Misfit Discs," if you will. We humbly urge that you give at least one of them a look to help us prove that someone indeed does want a Charlie-In-The-Box.
12. Night Of The Comet
One cannot exactly call a movie a modern classic when it has been out of circulation for more than half of its lifetime. However, many of those who have quietly enjoyed the long-dormant Thom Eberhardt’s super-smart sci-fi spoof during its years of rights disputes and limited availability (on very old VHS) will happily sing its praises as classic, as forgotten as it may be. Characteristic of the nuclear paranoia of the day, this gore-free tribute to Dawn of the Dead is about two Valley Girls, played by Catherine Mary Stewart (The Last Starfighter¯) and Kelli Maroney (Fast Times at Ridgemont High), who survive the Earth’s near-collision with a comet. The comet vaporized most living creatures on the planet, with most of the remaining survivors become crazed zombies. Jokes and jabs at consumerism ensue. Well paced and always one step ahead of the lazy, cartoonish romp it could have become, Eberhardt continuously shifts from serious to silly, all the while advancing the story of a post-Apocalyptic world gone wild. Star Trek¯ fans will thrill to a baby-faced Voyager¯ star Robert Beltran, while fans of teen films will celebrate much of what this long-missing puzzle piece has to offer, nearly a quarter century later. Also check out the movie’s more distinguished overseas cousin, Peter Jackson’s fellow Kiwi pal Geoff Murphy’s swell The Quiet Earth (1985), enough of a "last man on Earth" variation on I Am Legend so as not to raise the ire of that book’s author, Richard Matheson, and his legal team.
11. The Rape Of Europa
Nearly as insidious as Hitler’s wholesale slaughter of Jews and others he thought inferior was his systematic pillaging of Europe’s art treasures and the attempted cultural annihilation of "sub-human" peoples. In the exhaustive documentary written and directed by Richard Berge, Nicole Newnham and Bonni Cohen, the trio goes far in chronicling this seldom explored prong of the Nazis’ assault, from Hitler’s formation of the party in the 1920s right through to its rise to power in 1933 to its defeat at the end of World War II twelve years later. Art lovers will thrill to the heroic efforts of not only the staffs of the Louvre and the Hermitage, but the U.S. Army’s contingent of Monuments Men,¯ commissioned to protect these treasures from a vindictive retreating German force. While the three do not fully make a case for the Reich’s hunger for art being a major impetus for its warmongering, they do depict the tragedy of this hidden war-within-a-war with the kind of passion that would even make the most cold-hearted collector of velvet Elvis paintings weep.
10. Amazing Grace
More powerful than Steven Spielberg’s Amistad¯ is Michael Apted’s impassioned, dramatic chronicling of England’s abolitionist movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Strikingly handsome BBC staple Ioan Gruffudd, whom American audiences will know best as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic in the craptacular Fantastic Four movies, is dazzling as the furious parliamentarian William Wilburforce, who dedicated most of his life to eradicating slavery throughout the Empire. The supporting cast is fine, too, helping Apted meld his documentary sensibilities with drama even better than he did with Enigma.¯ This is a far cry from the dry, ongoing Up! series that Apted has been visiting every seven years since 1964 (released in a box set this year); here, he fully involves us in the abject tragedy that slavery was, dredging up an important vestigial guilt for our part as humans in it.
9. Four Eyed Monsters
So seamlessly stylish and staggeringly efficient in its delivery of story information is the debut film from art geeks Arin Crumley (a ringer for Topher Grace) and enchanting pixie Susan Buice. The film is the 20-something New York couple’s intimate account of their courtship -- of love in the time of MySpace -- and it dazzles with its angst-infused honesty and nuanced splendor. Funny, terrifying and wonderfully organic, the two paint their tale with so much passion that it cannot possibly be contained by one film, which is why it is so nice to go beyond the film with the accompanying eight video podcasts that detail the film’s life on the festival circuit (plus additional episodes on the official website and free at the iTunes Music Store). Nevermind Robert Rodriguez’s 10-Minute Film School this is the real deal. Anyone who has ever wanted to live the "produced a film with credit cards on weekends and holidays" dream should lay hands on this wonderfully personal gem and take lessons from people who actually lived it. While Crumley and Buice will almost surely make another film, this one, in its raw near perfection, will be so hard to top.
The Host
CGI, or computer generated imagery, has become a pretty lazy staple of fantasy films since Steven Spielberg scared the soiled pants off of us in Jurassic Park over a decade ago. Now, though, the technology is everywhere and not so impressive, as most of the time, it is plied by amateurs and looks pretty crappy. One way to mask this lack of mastery is to obscure the artificial objects in darkness, which is why this high-tech Godzilla¯-style monster movie from South Korea kicks so much ass. When toxins accumulate in Seoul’s Han River, a hideous mutant creature is created, and instead of lurking in shadows, it crawls right up on shore in the light of day for lunch. Like its American counterpart Tremors,¯ it is clever, paced right and smartly acted, something that might not be as apparent if it did not look so convincing, too. (Skip the single disc and go right for the swell double platter version.)
The Animation Show
Animators Don Hertzfeldt and Mike Judge (¯Beavis and Butt-Head) have created a welcome alternative to the Spike & Mike festivals with their annual touring show, the first two incarnations of which are collected in this dandy box set. Not only does it include gems like Chris Stenner’s and Heidi Wittlinger’s haunting and surreal Das Rad and Peter Cornwell’s dark, Wallace & Gromit¯ inspired stop motion masterpiece Ward 13,¯ but comes with a thoughtful, 36-page guide to appreciating all of these short treasures. Viewers will find it challenging to not laugh at Hertzfeldt’s minimalist gallows classic Billy’s Balloon or come away not singing The Real Tuesday Weld’s infectious Bathtime In Clerkenwell,¯ animated plainly and beautifully by Alex Budovsky. Simply, marvelous. Fans of animation’s golden age will want to check out Tex Avery’s Droopy: The Complete Theatrical Collection,¯ Popeye the Sailor 1933-38: Vol. 1 and the fifth Looney Tunes Golden Collection, also released this year.
Finish counting down with us right here on Monday as we present our take on the rest of the Top 12 DVDs of 2007.
