What Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote were to Warner Brothers' Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry were to Hanna-Barbera. As the animated duo who were so frequently caught up in chases-- not only is it fitting that the characters consisted of a veritable cat and mouse but also that Warner Brothers has released 14 more of the classic (originally MGM produced) shorts from 1944 through 1951 in the aptly named Greatest Chases series featuring the beloved cartoon icons.
While unfortunately the animation included on the 102 minute disc hasn't been touched up in the slightest and even looked lackluster and grainy on an upconvert player-- the content is what keeps the series of theatrical shorts from aging. Ingeniously animated with a frantic pacing-- the Tom and Jerry works contained on this disc helped foreshadow what the editing industry would do in action movies down the road by synchronizing everything perfectly in tune with the music. And although some Road Runner cartoons felt a tad repetitive, Hanna-Barbera's Tom and Jerry chases never got old as those responsible for the series made sure that both characters have the upper hand at some point and creativity was always at the forefront as the relentlessly pursuant cat Tom tries to ensnare the clever mouse Jerry in a variety of schemes.
Featuring some of the most renowned shorts that begin just three years after Tom and Jerry made their debut in 1940 in a wonderful and promising series which would go onto garner the animators seven Best Animated Short Subject Oscar statues-- Warner Brothers' recent Greatest Chases Volume 2 disc is notable for its inclusion of two of these award-winnings works with the 1944 released Mouse Trouble and 1945 released Quiet Please!
With the convenient option to play the disc in its entirety and let each short move into the next (along with various subtitle and language options such as English, Portuguese, French and Thai) we find Tom engaged in a literal cat-fight over Jerry, a bratty little girl forcing Tom to become a cat in the cradle by dressing him as a baby which Jerry enjoys immensely, and their endless back-and-forth dynamic that's tested when Tom learns he will inherit a million dollars provided he doesn't hurt Jerry and later as both try not to get on the bad side of the bulldog Spike.
Spike is the central character in one of the strongest shorts-- the Oscar winning Quiet Please!-- as Tom realizes he must act quickly to try and nab Jerry once and for all before the sleeping bulldog will awaken and put an end to it. And likewise Mouse Trouble is especially entertaining as well as Tom enlists the aid of a '40s version of a self-help manual to catch a mouse (from "Random Mouse" books).
However, in addition to the award-winners, there's a lot of great discoveries to be found on the disc including Cue Ball Cat which finds Jerry hiding in a corner pocked of a pool table as Tom tries to crush him, making terrific use of the animation of the billiard balls as well as when Jerry tries to become a bodyguard to a goldfish that Tom decides on a whim he wants to cook in a French recipe he hears on a radio show. Fun and fast-paced-- despite the grain, dust and sometimes less than sharp color in the animation-- Greatest Chases Volume 2 makes a solid addition for Tom and Jerry collectors.
*Note: This month, Warner Brothers is also releasing the following collectible set:
Trust me, it's never a good idea to heckle comedians since it kills it for everyone as-- a few years back-- we threw down some serious coin to get good seats to see Jerry Seinfeld only for him to be upstaged by a ridiculous drunk dude in the front VIP row who ticked off the master of "nothing" to such an extent that the show was over in 40 minutes flat. However, comedians aside-- heckling movies is a different story altogether.
Of course, it's frowned upon for good reason in crowded theatres since the only thing worse than a bad movie is one wherein the misery of the experience is magnified by annoying chatterboxes and patrons who spend the entire time playing with their cellular phones. Yet on the flip-side-- nothing is more fun than having a theatre to yourself and a few friends or watching a movie at home with others and letting the jokes fly.
Obviously sometimes it's hard to restrain yourself at the theatre as I discovered over the course of the last year at two crowded screenings where-- instead of the usual suspects of catching a flick with a mere handful of Phoenix film critics in the early afternoon-- we were sharing space with rowdy evening audiences all fired up for Twilight and Knowing. And while I have no idea how I managed to control myself during the sparkly vampires of Twilight who just loved to play a mean game of baseball-- despite a colleague's attempt every two minutes to crack me up in a way that made me nervous we were going to get jumped by tweens in the parking lot-- when the last thirty minutes of Knowing rolled around, I got the worst case of the giggles imaginable. And at the Cage flick, I had to stifle the urge to yell out "it's a cookbook" to the point where I nearly had to leave the auditorium.
Why the fierce urge to heckle, you might ask? Well, for one thing bad entertainment is way too unbelievable to be taken seriously and this is especially the case when you're confronted with so much stimuli on a daily basis that movies start to blend together and five bad ones in a row can feel like dental torture unless you bring out the laughing gas. However, the main reason I'd say my mind just instantly goes for the jokes (aside from scribbling them down for reviews) is because like so many others, I spent a large amount of my formative years watching the three funniest movie commentators on the planet via the eleven year run of the Peabody Award-winning, Emmy nominated Mystery Science Theater 3000 a.k.a. MST3K.
Headed up by its lead writer Michael J. Nelson (or Mike Nelson depending on the box or the press release)-- MST3K treated us to the loopy requisite B-movie premise we frankly could've cared less about that involved Nelson being forced a la Clockwork Orange to screen some of the world's worst B-horror and science fiction movies on a regular basis while trapped in space. Surviving the works with his wisecracking Gilligan's Island like robots (with a much higher IQ than Gilligan or Ginger) that were played by Kevin Murphy as Tom Servo and Bill Corbett's Crow-- the three treated movies like basketball games.
Yet instead of play-by-play catch-up, cliches about "taking it one game at a time," too many utterances of the phrase "pick and roll" and the senseless name dropping of Kobe Bryant every five minutes whether or not he's even on the floor-- the human and his trusty robots provided their own running commentary of the movies. In doing so, they leave no-joke untried and sometimes either let the ones that may not have been successful drop or pick up the threads later by way of so many pop culture references it would've made the heads of the Gilmore Girls spin with Exorcist-style envy.
After their show and spin-off film ended and left fans hungry for more-- the three stars took their act to the World Wide Web thanks to the advent of MP3s. And while some may miss the outline of the familiar robots and Mike on the screen, the quality is at an all-time high as now the guys can revel in much more freedom. With the ability to ridicule higher profile works and box office hits including hundreds of television shows and movies such as Iron Man, The Dark Knight, and Transformers since they no longer have to worry about licensing (as likewise R rated works are finally in the rotation) and fans who pay anywhere from roughly a dollar to four dollars can simply sync up the MP3 downloaded files to their own DVD or Blu-ray disc of the same title-- the phenomenon dubbed RiffTrax has become a growing cult hit.
Yet for those-- like this reviewer-- who still struggle to give up the tangible ownership of a DVD or CD in favor of MP3 downloads, good news has arrived. Thanks to Legend Films-- ten titles have been released in RiffTrax's all-new DVD line of budget priced movies. So far we've been treated to the classic and obviously favored B-movies like Night of the Living Dead, Plan 9 From Outer Space, and Reefer Madness that they were able to license and contain on disc. Although in order to hear something different from their campy oeuvre, I decided to request screeners of their two volumes of vintage Short Films instead.
Kindly including a few of the other titles which I hope to review down the road-- as well as aspiring to hear their takes on some of the films I've been suffering through in the theatre over the past few years via MP3s available on their website-- I was thrilled to find the humor was all still there as they lend their unique blend of commentary to outdated public service short films and educational programs from the '40s through the '70s with titles ranging from Buying Food to Each Child is Different.
In one they're practically given enough material to work with simply by the host alone as the infamous Bob Crane (note-- if you're not sure what the "dark side" of the Hogan's Heroes star was like, see Auto Focus) teaches lessons on patriotism as they shudder by the creepy implications of scenes and joke about the need to up a restraining order with the one-liner, "Yes, I'm Bob Crane lecturing on how to be a good person."
Yet admirably they dig deeper in their humor to unleash some great off-the-wall first person jokes in another as they comment, "I'm going to stay here at my desk and wish computer solitaire was invented," and in doing so, the discs which average roughly one hundred minutes consistently cracked me up throughout since they went beyond what was predictable.
After children in a school learn how to be clean and polite from watching a puppet show about Mr. Bungle and one student is scolded not to run, we hear their mock narration of "he would hang himself later that day" as they continue with the pop culture jokes likening one cast member of a workplace falls warning video to Jerry Lee Lewis, one kid's appearance to Dennis the Menace and then explain that another video has a soundtrack that was chosen by Quentin Tarantino yet borrowed from Ken Burns.
Moreover, the impressive ease with which their (obviously) planned out and studied humor manages to still sound fresh and spontaneous to ensure that they don't step over each other's jokes or leave too much dead air makes the short films a great example in particular of their versatility to switch from B-horror movies and science fiction to warnings about the neighbors and moral quandaries. And to this end, they quickly adjust to each disc's nine varied shorts and an animated version of the guys in a never-before-released take on Shake Hands With Danger on the first volume.
While I'm definitely looking forward to exploring the camp classics for which they're most famous-- after earning their comedy merit badge braving the same terrain in the acclaimed MST3K, it was a wonderful catharsis to spend a bit of "summer vacation" reliving the awful shorts of a youth spent in public school and an early part of my career viewing meaningless job training videos during orientation at every new gig. And this is all the more important since--finally with the convenience of RiffTrax-- we're able to get some of the giggles out of our system to help us fare much better when we see something so obviously ready to be riffed such as Ghosts of Girlfriends Past or The Perfect Sleep on the big screen where heckling is not an option.
Unfortunately, while I just couldn't get on board with National Entertainment Media's recent release Baby on Board-- the second direct-to-disc offering Night Train (already available for rental at Blockbuster before hitting other chains for sale and rent in July) is a vastly superior work. Additionally, it's also one that you're able to board quite easily as a film fan and then uneasily as you try to figure it all out.
Not quite a horror film due to some clever cuts to shield us from obvious gore nor purely a morality play as mythological ideas and suspense fueled double crosses are woven throughout, at its core, Night Train is essentially a chamber piece.
Furthermore it's one that aside from the scope of the train setting could've actually been played out on the stage as it centers on a main trio of strangers who meet out of random chance around Christmas when they find themselves aboard the Nightingale.
Easily gravitating towards Danny Glover as our main protagonist since he is the conductor (and Danny Glover) and must ensure that all things are running smoothly-- the movie immediately gets us on his side when he lets a strange, troubled, pill-popping foreigner on board without money or a ticket because it's Christmas after all and the weather outside is frightful.
He takes a seat in the same car as a drunk, unhappy, and unsuccessful salesman Peter Dobbs (Steve Zahn) and a bookish pre-med student Chloe (Leelee Sobieski) who pours over gruesome anatomy texts. Yet just moments after he pops more pills courtesy of one of Peter's mini bottles of vodka, the stranger goes out for the count-- a nameless corpse in a train car on Christmas.
While the two passengers and Glover's Miles try to ascertain what happened and get ready to alert the authorities, a box tumbles out of the dead man's belongings revealing an overwhelmingly valuable treasure that-- after some moral hemming and hawing-- the three decide to split three ways.
Realizing that since the man never had a ticket, they could just imagine he was never there in the first place-- soon the trio scheme to get rid of the body to claim the treasure as their own as their interest in the box increases in equal measure to their anxieties and suspicions about one another.
For although this initial and literal stranger on the train is the Nightingale's first corpse, he's far from its last as others show up looking for the box, passengers grow more concerned and the three reveal aspects about themselves one would never have guessed.
Admittedly it's a familiar premise that feels at once like we're moving right into A Simple Plan or Shallow Grave territory but suddenly, the filmmaker mixes things up considerably by giving us a new meaning to the term "pandora's box" as Night Train barrels on to a devastating conclusion.
And in writer/director Brian King's feature filmmaking debut, everything feels eerie from the start of a work with a time and setting you're never quite sure about as the overly CGI looking train footage (ghoulish and supernatural like the unintentional but creepy tinged look of Robert Zemeckis' Polar Express) pops right along with the snow in 1080 pixels.
At once, Night Train is a throwback to vintage film noir and classic Hitchcock like The Lady Vanishes, Strangers on a Train and North By Northwest or as King cites in an extra feature, John Huston's Treasure of the Sierra Madre and The Maltese Falcon. In the same turn it is also one that knows its cinematic history well with nods to countless works like Murder on the Orient Express utilized throughout a script that was created out of King's affection for the use of trains in old cinema.
Of course, trains themselves can be a metaphor for life (as Glover noted) since they're forever moving and changing as people make choices to get on or off but nonetheless they can be confining and claustrophobic all at the same.
In the standard definition extras-- over fifty minutes in all that's more than half of the film's 91 minute running time-- actress Leelee Sobieski makes an intriguing leap between the three actors (including herself) whom she explains are both "weird collectively... and individually." She cites this decision to cast the very different talents alongside each other as something that heightened the idea of the movie's treasured box being like a toy the three are fighting over in a sandbox.
She's quite right in that it's the characters that drive the piece and Zahn himself chimes in during his solo interview with a similar preference that instead of the treasure or a more clearly defined setting, we're mainly fixated on the three rather strange individuals who together craft the film into a simple, old fashioned American fable or myth.
I couldn't help but realize that in doing so and avoiding specific genre trappings, the need to wrap things up concretely or explain everything too much, King shows that he respects our intelligence enough for viewers to try and get to know the individuals as though we're strangers on the train as well watching the horrific events unfold in near real time.
While admittedly, after a few abysmally bad B-movie thrillers, I wasn't expecting much from the film that skipped the theatre and premiered straight on disc. However, honestly given the dark and uncertain nature of the piece as it slowly moves into Philip K. Dick meets Franz Kafka territory-- although it seems like it would've been a natural for perhaps Lionsgate or Summit Entertainment, I completely understand the lack of a major distributor to put a huge marketing campaign behind a film they can't quite sell as horror or any specified genre.
Although it's definitely not of the caliber of last year's brilliant train thriller Transsiberian-- it's quite a gripping ride that draws you in and doesn't let you step onto the platform easily. For you know that ultimately you're going to have to jumped off-- still dazed and confused by all that's come before it especially since and truer to real life perhaps than films where strangers suddenly tell each other everything in two minutes flat-- we're still not certain who Conductor Miles, Chloe, or Peter were by the time the movie ends.
An unexpected summer sleeper also produced by A-Mark Entertainment, FilmTiger, Rifkin Eberts and Cutting Edge-- the Blu-ray release from National Entertainment Media is exquisitely sharp with heightened artistic external shots that aside from feeling overly digitized add to the ambiance overall. Also featuring Spanish and English subtitles for the deaf and/or hearing imparied as well as impressive-- if not explosive-- DTS HD 5.1 Master Audio and 5.1 Dolby Digital with its widescreen 1.78: 1 aspect ratio-- although the extras are only in standard 480i definition, they're well worth exploring despite a repetition in the interviews and the making-of-featurette footage.
However, you'll want to be sure to view the film before looking for more treasures since spoilers come tumbling out in the extras within an instant. While I may have been an ideal audience member for the movie since much like King, I have a soft-spot for Hitchcock, noir and a genuine fondness for trains on film since the mystery, romance, danger, and metaphors aren't nearly as irresistible in a car, plane, bus, or subway-- it's a ride that I'd recommend taking. And it's definitely all the more enjoyable if you're an experienced ticket holder who's climbed aboard its many cinematic inspirations to be had in journeys of movies past.
"You just have no chemistry for business, Bob," Mrs. Funk-- the CEO of Funk Foam and Futon-- (Grace Zibriskie) informs her Vice President of Sales (Michael Leydon Campbell) in writer/director Craig Carlisle's independent dramedy based on his play Bob Funk in Therapy.
The fact that her employee also happens to be her son makes it an inconvenient but nonetheless obvious truth for viewers from the moment we first become acquainted with the personality of Campbell's titular misogynistic, barfly cad who takes out his frustration in failing to sell futons to college bound students who want a real bed by telling them that he wanted a wife who didn't sleep with other men but you don't always get what you want.
Obviously in addition to not finding a faithful wife, the divorced Bob Funk is a man who has not gotten the memo that the job title of sales is also supposed to involve a certain degree of "customer service" as well. So the misanthropic man who's definitely in more than a just a "funk" who likewise would be the first to tell you he's "not a people person" works on those skills the only way he knows how by leveling "buy you a drink?" offers at random women for one night stands.
Having only unpacked the essential bed he needs for his real "job" and with the requirement of a toilet to puke in the next morning in his depressingly minimalist cardboard box filled apartment-- Bob primarily sets up shop on the corner stool of his local bar sometimes not bothering to change clothes from one day that bleeds into the next. However, a ray of hope appears into his bleak existence with the arrival of the lovably clumsy, adorable, and fresh faced Ms. Thorne (Rachael Leigh Cook).
Just seconds after settling into her new cubicle at Funk Foam and Futon, Bob appears like a shark ready to move in for the kill-- and tries bait her with his title and a lascivious double-entendre filled offer to show her "the ins and outs" of the work over dinner-- before his mom arrives and forces him to apologize for harassment which inevitably escalates into a double-entendre free, far lewder form of harassment.
Now Bob discovers that the only way to keep a job at the company (and throughout the film he's fired, re-hired and amusingly demoted to custodial work as a night janitor) is to agree to his mother's terms to see a female psychiatrist, report directly to Ms. Thorne, and pull himself together.
The likable supporting cast includes Nadia Dajani, Alex Desert, Stephen Root, Eddie Jemison, Lucy Davis and even a thankless cameo by Oscar nominated Gone Baby Gone star and Office scene-stealer Amy Ryan as a sexually aggressive bar patron who refuses Bob's come-ons until she must admit that he may be an a**hole but at least he's a "charismatic a**hole."
And needless to say the supporting players ensure that the movie speeds along affably enough but our utter repulsion of Campbell's main character makes it rough going for nearly the first hour until he finally realizes that he needs to give up the drink and the meaningless flings that go along with it.
Once he begins to make an active change to do so-- intriguingly not pulling us into the repetition of A.A. meetings or on and off the wagon melodrama to its credit-- Funk as a character and a film becomes much more enjoyable.
And although it's strangely labeled a romantic comedy due to his increasing attraction to and flirtation with Ms. Thorne and the poorly designed box cover that makes it look like some cheesy frat-boy battle of the sexes-- the family dynamic between his tough-minded mother and brother suffering a marital rough patch helps humanize Campbell's character.
Additionally it gives the actor much more to work with other than the Mamet-like, "You want to know what it is, I'll tell you what it is," stagey monologues he delivers in the first half of the film to anyone willing to listen before he lashes out his frustration regarding whatever minuscule problem is ailing him that second.
Still, it's uneven overall because-- no matter how it's handled-- it's hard to find humor in alcoholism and appalling behavior despite his self-pitying announcement that's also used as a tagline of "welcome to my decline."
Despite this, it's a worthwhile rental as Bob Funk is ultimately redeemed as an ensemble piece where the supporting cast (especially Cook) are able to help augment the theatrical yet extremely well written script from reveling in that decline. For without these ingredients-- the film from Magnolia Pictures may have threatened to fall apart like one of the many items Cook's daffy Jean Arthur-like screwball character manages to destroy throughout the course of Carlisle's misguided yet surprisingly entertaining Funk.
A major hit following its premiere in its Canadian homeland-- earning a whopping fourteen Gemini award nominations (our neighboring country's version of the Emmys), Murdoch Mysteries has been steadily building a fan-base in England as well as France where it began airing in syndication a few weeks ago.
And now the series-- which has actually wrapped and broadcast its second season in Canada--has finally arrived for American audiences to savor both in this Acorn Media 4-disc slim-packaged DVD collection of the first season along with its scheduled run to debut on PBS on the thirtieth of June.
For devotees of author Maureen Jennings' Detective Murdoch series of novels which began back in 1997 with the title Except for Dying that has so far received six sequels in the collection as well as those who aren't fond of waiting for weekly installments of the series-- this beautifully transferred set is presented in its original 16x9 widescreen cinematic aspect ratio, with accompanying Dolby Digital surround, and contains subtitles for the deaf and/or hearing impaired.
Also boasting episodic commentary by its handsome, naturally charming lead actor Yannick Bisson (who portrays the Toronto based Detective William Murdoch) and co-star Jonny Harris (who plays his eager, hardworking constable assistant and protege George Crabtree) along with the production designer and executive producer-- the set additionally features a photo gallery of the Victorian era series, interviews with Jennings and cast members, as well as cast and character filmographies and biographies respectively.
Smartly written and bolstered by the involvement of author Jennings who serves as a creative consultant on the Canadian series to ensure the novels are done justice, her work--which had actually been filmed previously as a series of mystery films called The Murdoch Mysteries-- makes for an intriguing blend of fantasy, historical fiction, police procedural, literary mystery, and period productions.
Set in 1895-- its titular character employs both newly discovered technologies such as early crime scene investigation methods and rudimentary forensic studies in his inventive and highly scientific pursuits to solve whatever crimes disturb his surroundings-- all the while rubbing elbows with individuals such as Nikola Tesla, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Prince Alfred.
What begins as an irresistibly clever gimmick of blending our popular whodunnit and penchant for Law and Order style crime scene series with the influence of Sherlock Holmes however soon gives way as the mysteries themselves become either fairly easy to solve or part of a predictable pattern where the inevitable "a ha" moment occurs in a rushed manner near the end of all thirteen episodes.
Our likable lead along with a terrific supporting cast such as the aforementioned Harris and Murdoch's obligatory tough-minded boss Inspector Brackenried (Thomas Craig) keeps things running smoothly but great credit for its success is due to the show's vintage Scully and Mulder dynamic. This is supplied in the form of the brainy, forward thinking, liberal and early feminist Dr. Julia Ogden (Helene Joy) whose knack for forensics makes her one of the area's top pathologists and a woman who shares a similar fascination for science, medical examination and experimentation to help rule in and out suspects and evidence as Murdoch's most trusted ally.
Although the involvement of a woman of her position in the time period seems a bit anachronistic-- Joy is a consistent bright spot in the series and along with Harris, helps sustain the sense of fun and excitement the opening episode promises before Murdoch's rather bland personality and over-abundance of Catholic guilt and ritual find you struggling not to hit the snooze button.
While budget does appear to be a problem in the filming of such a high concept period series as certain locations seem simply re-dressed throughout, the show hides this very well with a superlative usage of camera trickery by incorporating what the crew calls "Murdoch Vision" as we're given a doorway inside his overworked mind while he tries to use his own sense of logic blended with an overactive (yet always scientific) imagination to recreate crime scenes or explain things while we literally see what he's thinking.
It's a cool style that adds much needed flavor to the show when it threatens to become far too gimmicky (for example when Doyle arrives to help with a seance mystery?) and Murdoch begins to wear on the nerves for his pretty bland personality as he seems about as fascinating as a doorway when next to the flirtatious and bold Ogden and constable version of the boy scout Crabtree.
Still, despite a few clunks and the fact that possibly like its ITV cousin, one where the decision to film even fewer episodes (maybe six or so as seems to be popular in England) would've resulted in less obvious repetition, production challenges, and an over reliance on gimmicks-- it's still an entertaining set sure to appeal to fans of literary and historical mysteries.
Walking Movie Encyclopedia at Film Intuition; 3-Time National Award Winning Scribe; Film Reviewer; "Watch With Jen" Podcast Host; Screenwriter; Movie Discussion Host; BA in Film Studies & Communication.
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