Tuesday, July 29, 2008

NEW RELEASES -JULY 29 2008

Alice Upside Down: The Movie

The Band's Visit

Classic British Thrillers

Cocaine Cowboys 2: Hustlin' With the Godmother

Dark City: Director's Cut

Doomsday

Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater

Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay

Inglorious Bastards

Lost Boys: The Tribe

Never Back Down

The Outlaw and His Wife

Privilege

Puzzle

Rolling Stones: Shine a Light

Wargames: The Dead Code


TELEVISION:

Law & Order SVU - Season 7

Stargate: Continuum

Two Fat Ladies - The Complete Series

 

BLU-RAY:

Dark City: Director's Cut

 

NEW ARRIVALS & REPLACEMENT DVDS:

All the President's Men

All the Real Girls 

Bob la Flambeur

Body Heat

Control Room

Deathtrap

Equus

54

Get Carter (1971)

The Gods Must Be Crazy I & II

How Stella Got Her Grove Back

The Hunted

Jerry Maguire

Lovers and Other Strangers

Magician

Mi Vida Loca

The Moon-Spinners

Mr. Holland's Opus

The Passion of Anna

Pleasantville

Prime Suspect 1

Prime Suspect 2

Revenge of the Ninja

Ruthless People

Soup Dish

South Park - Season 8

The Sting

U2: Rattle & Hum


Hip-Hop Honeys: Tasty Flavors (VHS)

Sunday, July 27, 2008

QUICKIE: BATMAN (1966)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, for obvious reasons everyone is clamoring to rent and watch Batman Begins

Even the Tim Burton version of Batman is getting rented a lot, as are it's super lame sequels.

It happens. Watch, next week those terrible Mummy remakes will be in high rental demand. 

And for the record, I loved the new Dark Knight flick, though flawed. Maybe I’ll go into my problems with it down the road. 

Here’s my heads up:

The 60’s Batman TV show with Adam West is NOT available on DVD or VHS.... 

BUT the wonderful theatrical film spin-off of the Batman TV show is.

So if your kids or something are too young for the new movie (and trust me, it’s an ‘adult’ film) make em watch the hilarious 1966 flick where the Capped Crusader and his trusted teen flunky Robin take on The Catwoman, The Joker, The Penguin and The Riddler all wonderfully played by Lee Meriwether, Cesar Romero, Burgess Meredith and Frank Gorshin

It’s worth it just for the moment when Batman is forced to use the bat-shark-repellent on a dangling rubber fish with it’s mouth wrapped around his leg.



Monday, July 21, 2008

NEW RELEASES - JULY 22, 2008


Autumn Hearts

Celine: Her Life Story

China Rises

Death Valley

Earth: The Biography

Heartbeat Detector

High and Low (Criterion)

Iggy and the Stooges: Escaped Maniacs

Last Winter

Pete Kelly's Blues

Philosophy of a Knife

Round Midnight

21

Turn the River

Vampyr (Criterion) 


TELEVISION:

Comedy Central's TV Fun House

Jack Benny: Laugh Out Loud 

LA Ink - Season 1

Las Vegas - Season 5

Robot Chicken: Star Wars

Shark Week: Ocean of Fear

Spaced: The Complete Series


NEW ARRIVAL DVDS / CUSTOMER REQUESTS:

Earthlings

The Miracle Fighters

The Mummy (1932) Special Edition

The Mummy Lives

The Mummy's Kiss

EGYPT ME! I WANT MY MUMMY BACK!



Last Saturday, at Rocket, we had an event celebrating Mummy movies.  

This was a trivia quiz I made up for everyone who attended. 

See how well you do!



  1. Which of these comedy teams did NOT make a Mummy movie?

a) Abbott and Costello

b) Martin and Lewis

c) The Three Stooges

d) Wheeler and Woolsey

  1. What kind of leaves bring Kharis the Mummy to life in the Universal Mummy movies of the 1940’s?

a) maple

b) mulberry

c) sycamore

d) tana

  1. Who defeats a Mummy in BUBBA HO-TEP?

a) Ronald Reagan

b) The Beatles

c) Elvis Presley

d) James Dean

  1. What goddess destroys Im-Ho-Tep in the 1932 film THE MUMMY?

a) Isis

b) Hera

c) Juno

d) Hecate

  1. Who played the Mummy in the Hammer film version of 1959?

a) Peter Cushing

b) Christopher Lee

c) Kiwi Kingston

d) Boris Karloff

  1. What animated film features a group of skeletons with Beatle haircuts singing “It’s the Mummy?”

a) SCOOBY DOO IN WHERE’S MY MUMMY

b) MAD MAD MAD MONSTERS

c) ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS MEET THE MUMMY

d) MAD MONSTER PARTY

  1. Who plays the Mummy in the 1999 film THE MUMMY?

a) Brendan Fraser

b) Kevin J. O’Connor

c) The Rock

d) Arnold Vosloo

  1. ORGY OF THE DEAD featured a mummy and a werewolf forcing a couple in a graveyard to watch strippers dancing. Who wrote this famous cult epic?

a) Ed Wood

b) Bela Lugosi

c) Criswell

d) Billy Wilder

  1. In THE MONSTER SQUAD, how does the squad dispose of the Mummy?

a) they burn him

b) they shoot him with a spear gun

c) silver bullet

d) they unravel him

  1. What recent zombie film begins with film students making their own Mummy movie in the woods of Pennsylvania?

a) SHAUN OF THE DEAD

b) DIARY OF THE DEAD

c) DAWN OF THE DEAD

d) RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD PART 4



answers: 1 b, 2 d, 3 c, 4 a, 5 b, 6 d, 7 d, 8 a, 9 d, 10 b

Thursday, July 17, 2008

We Want Our Mummy!

ROCKET VIDEO EVENT!

Come to Rocket Video for MUMMY’S DAY on Saturday, July 19th from 1 – 3 pm celebrating the re-release of Universal Studios’ MUMMY movies on DVD as well as honoring the 40th anniversary of the death of make-up genius Jack Pierce.

Writer/director SCOTT ESSMAN will be on-hand signing DVDs and his new book on Pierce and Rocket manager Jeff Miller will be signing copies of his book THE HORROR SPOOFS OF ABBOTT AND COSTELLO.

Other guests attending will be (schedule permitting): Constantine Nasr, Michele Burke, Bill Corso, Kevin Haney, Greg Nicotero, Bob Burns, Tom Burman and Perry Shields.

A bust of Boris Karloff as the Mummy will be on display and there will be screenings of special Mummy clips as well as Essman’s new documentary on Pierce. Essman and Miller will conduct a discussion of all Mummy movies from 1932 to the present.

Plus trivia quiz with prizes, giveaways and lots of surprises!

Rocket Video is located at 726 N. La Brea Avenue in Hollywood.
Call (323) 965-1100 for more information.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

NEW RELEASES - JULY 15, 2008

Asylum

The Bank Job

College Road Trip

Daniel (Lumet 1983)

Dead and Gone

Heavy Metal In Baghdad

Houdini

Maid In Sweden (1971)

Meet Bill

My Blueberry Nights  (Wan Kar Wor)

Penelope

The Possession of Joel Delaney

Roxy Hunter and the Secret of the Shaman

Shotgun Stories

Shutter

The Skull (1965)

Step Up 2

Student Bodies (1981)

Superhero Movie

Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jelopies

Traffic (Tati 1971 ) - Criterion

Voice

X - The Man With the X-Ray Eyes

The Year My Parents Went on Vacation

Zero Population Growth (1971)

 

TELEVISION:

Birds of Prey - The Complete Series

Dallas - Season 9

Evening Shade - Season 1

Reno 911 - Season 5  


BLU-RAY:

The Fifth Element

 Walk Hard


NEW ARRIVALS AND REPLACEMENT DVDS:

A Beautiful Mind

A Bug's Life

Red Sonja

Zebraman

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

ROCKET ON TV

Yo
The last couple of weeks Rocket Video has been featured on this TV show call The Movie Mob
On a channel called The Reelz Channel (?)
I play this loser named Rocket Video Store Guy
I'm one of the 'mob', reviewing movies and trailers from upcoming flicks on line.

If you feel like it, I guess you can watch some of the reviews on line
here's a review of Get Smart
I'm also one of the reviewers of Wanted and Hancock. 

To stay on it, I have to get votes (people vote on line for their favorite 'Mob Member')
It's a nice little gig for me, I wanna keep it
And we get to keep promoting Rocket Video
So if you have some free time feel free to vote for me

-sweeneyrules

NEW RELEASES - JULY 8, 2008

Alive Day Memories: Home From Iraq

Baby, It's You

Batman: Gotham Knight

Blood and Wine

The Busy Body

Chop Shop

Journey to the Center of the Earth

Leonard Cohen: Under Review 1978 - 2006

Mon Oncle Antoine (Criterion)

National Geographic: Dogtown - Second Chances

The Ruins

Sleepwalking

Stop-Loss

Tracey Fragments

The U2 Phenomenon

Welcome to Amish America


TELEVISION: 

Cannon - Season 1, Vol. 1

Jake and the Fat Man - Season 1, Vol. 1

Monk - Season 6

Psych - Season 2

Wild Wild West Season 4


BLU-RAY:

Batman Begins


NEW ARRIVALS & REPLACEMENT DVDs:

American Nudes Vol I

American Nudes Vol II

Before Sunset

The Color Purple 

Gaza Strip

Girl with the Pearl Earring

The Mummy (1959)

Never Die Alone

O. Henry's Full House

Resevoir Dogs/Bad Lieutentant

Slogan

Star Wars Episode One: Phantom Menace


REPLACEMENT VHS:

Aladdin and the King of Thieves

Gladiator

When the Cat's Away

Sunday, July 6, 2008

AND WILLIAM HURT AS THE PRESIDENT!

What a crazy mess. A complete waist of an interesting idea and a lot of slumming talent. 
I just watched Vantage Point. If the TV show 24 is a over cooked up version of international terrorism (conveniently always taking place in the political hotbed of Los Angeles), then this is a cracked out version.

Right off the bat, at this very moment I’m hearing the cast yab in the “making of” doc, talking as if this is more then just a goofy thriller. As if it’s politically significant. 


NOTE: to Hollywood screenwriters (if you want to be less shallow):

1) Go watch Battle Of Algiers.

2) Call me a Bolshevik, if you must... but the reason ‘they’ (America’s enemies) ‘hate’ us is NOT because they are jealous of how ‘free’ we are or our arrogance. Believe it or not, people are ‘angry’ at us for tactual polices. Some of the things we do to the rest of the world, might be considered destructive, even selfish and cruel. And usually in the name of our fading dollar. 

Please one day write a ‘bad guy’ who is deeper then ‘pissy’.


BUT BOY WHAT A CAST!

IF THIS WAS 1986.

You have young pretty boys Dennis Quaid hot off of Jaws 3-D and James Legros, Blade from the hit TV Show Punky Brewster.

And D-Day from Animal House and the black football player from Fast Times At Ridgemont High.

Not to mention the big guns William Hurt fresh of his Oscar winning performance in Kiss Of The Spider Woman

and  Sigourney Weaver about to get an Oscar nomination for Aliens together again for the first time in five years since Eyewitness in 1981.


In the opening scenes of  Vantage Point, big-star Sigourney Weaver plays a news room director who appears to have a major part among the large cast. But then she more or less disappears ten minutes into the flick. 

While William Hurt plays the president and the president’s body double (I won’t even try to explain this) who gets shot about a dozen different times, every twenty minutes or so.

Now, I must say, following presidential politics a little, I thought to myself...  what a strange president Hurt would make. 

Would our country elect a completely bald man theses days? Are we ready to elect a man who resembles Russia's Vladimir Lenin to our highest office? A man who deliver his lines with even more herky-jerky hesitation in his voice then Walken or Shatner?

What strange casting I thought.


But what a strange career William Hurt has had.

He came out of New York theater with the lead in Ken Russel’s science-’friction flick Altered States (1980). And then a couple of brilliant performances, in to me a couple of the best flicks of the 80’s, The Big Chill (1983) & Body Heat (1981) both directed by Lawrence Kasdan

He got chewed off the screen by dying Lee Marvin in Gorky Park. (1984) 

But then he won his oscar as the transvestite political prisoner in Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985) (what ever happened to director Hector Babenco?).

Then he got two more Oscar nominations for Children of a Lesser God (1986) and  Broadcast News (1987), but  he was really just carrying water for the lead actresses  Marlee Matlin (Oscar winner) and Holly Hunter (she shoulda won, losing to Cher for Moonstruck). And then another costar Geena Davis, won an oscar for The Accidental Tourist (1988). 


So far-so good. Nice career.

Then he hooked up for round four with director Lawrence Kasdan for the lame comedy, I Love You To Death (1990), that may be the beginning of the end for him. Playing a retarded hit man, he started to take on the voice inflections of his on screen partner Keanu Reeves.

Though he took admirable chances in the 1990s, working with major international directors, the films ended up being their less memorable films. Woody Allen’s Alice (1990), Wim WendersUntil the End of the World (1991), Luis Puenzo’s (1992), Anthony Minghella’s Mr. Wonderful (1992) ect.


As his hair line recited so did his career. 

Though he popped up in some high profile fair like Dark City (1998) and One True Thing (1998) and Lost in Space (1998). The majority of his work ended up on cable not a movie screen. 

Then his transformation from yuppie leading man of the 80’s to weird character actor seemed to be complete with a memorable appearance more or less playing Gepetto in Spielberg’s updating of Pinocchio, A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001).

And then he, to the surprise of many got another Oscar nomination for his jarring ninth-inning cameo in the overrated A History of Violence (2005).


The comeback complete.

He seems to have found his footing in a number of higher profile flicks, playing distant and cold dick-ish authority figures in flicks like The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007) and The Incredible Hulk (2008).

When he was younger there was always a coolness and almost a gloss over his eyes, but they were cold rebels, in some ways.

Strangely, his style might have been to it’s most effectiveness in the messy, slick Mr. Brooks (2007). Though the film doesn’t really work, he was terrific as Kevin Costner's serial killer alter ego.

Hopefully, he will find more roles that fit his unique style as opposed to playing parts like the president, that seem better suited for Eddie Albert or Bradford Dillman or some antique from another generation.


-sweeneyrules

Thursday, July 3, 2008

CHECK OUT THIS BOOK!!


Check out the new book from Midnight Marquee Press! It's called YOU'RE NEXT! LOSS OF IDENTITY IN HORROR FILMS and it is a collection of essays exploring the theme of loss of identity in fantasy films including INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE, THE INVISIBLE MAN, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, MEMENTO, PSYCHO, etc. I myself, your esteemed Rocket Video manager, contributed over 15 entries to the book including essays on ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN, ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE INVISIBLE MAN, ZOMBIES ON BROADWAY, HULK, SHAUN OF THE DEAD, MONSTER AND THE GIRL, KING OF THE ZOMBIES and many more. The rest of the entries are contributed from Midnight Marquee's excellent stable of writers and the whole package is edited by Anthony Ambrogio. The book is illustrated with excellent stills from each film and beautifully packaged in softcover format. It's a steal at only $25.00. The book can be ordered from www.midmar.com or you can purchase it from Rocket Video (copies should be arriving some time next week). If you purchase your copy at Rocket, I'll even sign it for you! But check out the midmar website anyway 'cause they got lots of great stuff!!

By the way, I'll also have copies of my book THE HORROR SPOOFS OF ABBOTT AND COSTELLO available on Saturday, June 19th for sale and signing at our Mummy's day event.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

NEW RELEASES - JULY 1, 2008

City of Men (2008)

Diary of a Vampire: Legacy of Bram Stoker

Drillbit Taylor

Ganges

Get Smart's Bruce and Lloyd Out of Control

Girl on the Bridge

Killer's Moon

Meet the Browns

Sex and Death 101

Sunflower

Vantage Point

The Wayward Cloud

Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood


SPECIAL EDITIONS: 

Heathers - 20th Anniversary Edition

Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (Criterion)

Patriotism (Criterion)

The Tyrone Power Collection:   

Day Time Wife/Johnny Apollo * The Luck of the Irish/I'll Never Forget You * Love is News/That Wonderful Urge 

* This Above All/Second Honeymoon * Girl's Dormitory/Cafe Metropole

 

TELEVISION:

Alien Nation - The Complete Series

The Closer - Season 3

The Hills - Season 1

The Hills - Season 2

The Pretender - Season 2

30 Days - Season 2

Tru Calling - Season 1

Tru Calling - Season 2


BLU-RAY:

In the Line of Fire

Gangs of New York

Point Break


NEW ARRIVALS, REPLACEMENTS:

Brown Sugar  *  Devil Came on Horseback  *  E.T. The Extra Terrestrial  *  

Excellent Cadavers  *  Persuasion (1970)  *  Play Misty For Me  *  Nixon