For the week after Christmas, one of our reviewers picked their Top 5 discs of the year, and told us why they chose what they did. The following are Jitendar's choices for 2004.
A chill is in the air, the days are getting shorter, decorations are going up everywhere, and the sound of sleigh bells echo throughout the land. If you need any more hints, then the bundles of extra thick listings magazines being stacked in newsagents are a sure sign that Christmas is upon us once more. Once upon a time, a Christmas Radio Times was an invaluable guide as to just how many blank videocassettes I would need to buy for an upcoming holiday. Organising a Christmas viewing schedule was an annual ritual in my house. Not anymore though, and not for quite some time. Instead I find myself deciding just how many DVDs to watch instead of the ten episodes of Eastenders, and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.
On the bright side, this is the time of year that studios unleash most of their summer blockbusters onto the home video market. Unfortunately for me, 2004 has been a less than impressive year when it comes to the cinema. Films like The Day After Tomorrow, I Robot, The Bourne Supremacy and Van Helsing failed to inspire the compulsive purchaser in me, and quite frankly I was stumped when it came to choosing my discs of the year. Of course my must have discs of 2004 include Spiderman 2 and the long awaited extended edition of The Return Of The King, but at the time of writing, I once again rely on the Christmas Spirit of my nearest and dearest.
So in such a lacklustre year, where does this leave my Top 5? Well it isn’t dead and buried just yet, as where Hollywood disappoints, there is the salvation of foreign cinema and the back catalogues. Anime is a niche that I can happily spend my time exploring, and 2004 was a bumper year for Japanese animation series. A mini top 5, if it is anime discs you seek includes Ghost In The Shell: Standalone Complex, Fruits Basket, Serial Experiments Lain, Kiddy Grade and the outstanding Love Hina as must see animations. 2005 looks equally promising with the continuation of three of these series, as well as the Region 2 debut of the Cowboy Bebop series. In cinema I was impressed with the rich sword fighting fantasy Azumi, and from Korea the colourful sci-fi Natural City. Unfortunately both were let down by their UK Region 2 transfers.
When it comes to back catalogue discs, I was thoroughly entertained by the best Bond film never made, The Bourne Identity (not to be confused with the hit and miss sequel), which was released in a not so Special Edition. I wallowed in eighties excess with Al Pacino in Scarface, and felt the nineties cool of Tarantino in Reservoir Dogs. Yet not only are these back catalogue titles, but they have previously been released on DVD in another form. Surely that doesn’t count?
It doesn’t matter, as after plenty of head scratching and consternation, I’ve managed to settle on a final five, heavily weighted to the back catalogue and absent of recent blockbusters.
5. The Cooler
The only recent Hollywood movie in my list is anything but a big-budget blockbuster, and it is all the better for it. Bernie Lootz is the Cooler at the seedy Las Vegas casino, The Shangri-La. He’s a man so unlucky that his very misfortune is contagious; his ability to kill a winning streak is pure gold for an unscrupulous casino owner. Shelly Kaplow relies on Bernie to keep his casino in the money, and will stoop to any level to retain Bernie’s services. However when Bernie falls in love, his luck changes, and so does everyone else’s. The Cooler is an unconventional love story, darkly comic and filled with grimy, larger than life characters, set in a fading Las Vegas of yesteryear that is trying to avoid the encroachment of modern entertainment. An intelligent script and stand out performances from William H. Macy and Alec Baldwin make this one to watch.
The DVD release is quite special too, with the wonderful smoky Las Vegas atmosphere brought to vivid life in a clear 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer. You can listen to the sound of shattering kneecaps in DD 2.0 Surround, DD 5.1 or a full rate DTS track, and there is a small but perfectly formed selection of extras, including two commentaries. The only flaw on an otherwise excellent disc is a lack of subtitles, but in a reversal of usual doctrine, the Region 2 disc has the uncut version of the film, while the United States, still in a state of collective trauma after glimpsing Janet Jackson’s nipple, have to make do with a censored version.
4. M*A*S*H: Season 3
While DVD has been a revolution for the way we experience home cinema, that is nothing compared to what DVD has done for television. Where a series on videotape would fill a whole shelf, now you can keep your favourite show in a nice ergonomically designed package. More and more shows are being released, with some that may have been better off left in the archive, shows like Buck Rogers and Dukes Of Hazzard. With one-season wonders like Space Above And Beyond being announced, I don’t think it’ll be long before Manimal and Automan will be discreetly hidden away on shop shelves.
What this does mean though is that there is also some classic television being released, and earlier this year, M*A*S*H Season 3 was released, perhaps the best of the long running series. Set during the Korean War, M*A*S*H tells the story of a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital and the characters within, as they live their day to day lives against the backdrop of war and the constant influx of wounded. It’s a classic example of humour in the face of adversity and is filled with memorable characters like ‘Hawkeye’ Pierce, ‘Radar’ O’Reilly, ‘Hot-Lips’ Houlihan, the cross-dressing Klinger and the martinet Frank Burns. The wit is sharper than a scalpel and the scripts are tight and consistently of a high quality. There simply isn’t a bad episode in the 24 presented on the discs, and it has probably the best M*A*S*H episode of them all, Abysinnia Henry to conclude the season.
Being a classic television series, you’ll be unsurprised to read that the transfer from the original 16mm film is a 4:3 regular one, which faithfully reproduces the episodes. The mono soundtrack is either English or French, with the option (which I highly recommend) of watching the episodes without a laugh track. The only drawback is a complete lack of extras, but that is a small price to pay for a television show of M*A*S*H’s calibre.
3. Shogun
I also look to the television archives for my third choice. The eighties was the era of the mini-series. It seemed like an ideal compromise, when you had a book too long or complex to easily adapt to the cinema, a ten-hour mini-series would allow you to explore the characters and comfortably develop the story. James Clavell’s Shogun was adapted for the small screen in 1980, and proved an instant hit with audiences. It was history with a twist, with the names changed to allow for dramatic licence in a wondrous story in a far off land.
In the early 17th Century, British naval power was a far off dream, with mariners like Drake and Raleigh yet to make their name. The world was to be Catholic, and the Pope in his arrogance had divided it up. The Spanish would introduce the lands of the west to the divine path, while the Portuguese would take all lands east. The Protestant English were opposed to this, and with their Dutch allies waged war on the unenlightened. Five ships led by the Erasmus set sail to raid Spanish and Portuguese shipping in the new world, but harried by their enemies and ravaged by storms, only the Erasmus survived to be shipwrecked on the coast of Japan. English pilot, John Blackthorne finds himself in an alien land, unable to speak the language or understanding the customs. Worse, he finds the Portuguese have got there first and are busy teaching the natives the way of Catholicism. However, the odd conflict between the Catholics and Protestants means little to Toranaga, a powerful daimyo, who sees in Blackthorne the key to his victory over the other warlords and his ultimate goal of becoming Shogun, supreme overlord of Japan. Blackthorne must learn to understand this complex culture and the way of the Samurai if he is to survive.
Shogun is a rich, complex and absolutely engrossing story. High production values, outstanding characterisation and an intelligence that is rarely seen in television or cinema truly make this one of the landmarks in television history. The series has been re-edited into four chapters, dividing its 9-hour running time over four discs. The image quality is quite outstanding given its age and television origins, and the original mono track has been remixed into a quite pleasant DD 5.1 soundtrack. In addition there are 2 hours of extras on a fifth disc. The menus are wonderfully designed and the packaging is exquisite too. Shogun was must see television 25 years ago, it’s a must own DVD today.
2. The Star Wars Trilogy
This time last year, I was lamenting that there was only one major film property that had yet to debut on our favourite piece of circular polymer. Well last September our prayers were answered and the original Star Wars trilogy was released, and now makes it to my number 2 spot. As usual however, a capricious god answers any prayers regarding Star Wars, and the boxset we received in shiny silver packaging managed to enchant and enrage in equal measure.
Of all the films I could possibly write about, summarising the stories for the Star wars trilogy is perhaps the most redundant thing I could do. After all, who doesn’t know the story of an orphaned farm boy who gets caught up in a rebellion against a totalitarian Empire, and on the way discovers his heritage and his destiny? A cast of extraordinary characters, a brash smuggler, a headstrong princess, an old wizard and a seven foot tall walking carpet face an all powerful and quintessentially evil Emperor, the Dark Lord of the Sith, the galaxy’s most dangerous bounty hunter and an army of white clad stormtroopers. Our guides on the way are two robots who are the best double act since Abbot and Costello. The legacy of the Jedi Order and the coolest weapon ever seen on screen are merely the icing on the cake.
So what are the reasons not to buy this boxset? Well for one thing George Lucas keeps on tinkering with his films, and now he’s changing them to fit in with his prequel trilogy. This time around though, Jabba the Hutt gets an upgrade, Vader and the re-imagined Emperor have a decent chat, Boba Fett gets a new voice, Sebastian Shaw loses his eyebrows and Hayden Christensen gets a contentious ghostly cameo at the end of ROTJ. Unlike many, I have no problems with these changes. I do take issue with the return of the Gungans, and Greedo still shoots first. Star Wars is apparently a work in progress, and who knows what the next release will look like? There are one or two technical problems that still need resolving. The lightsabers certainly need more work, and have actually looked better. More problematic is the sound on the first disc. People have reported that the music on the rear channels has been reversed, though I admit that I’m tone deaf enough not to notice. I do notice however that the Rebel fanfare prior to the attack on the Death Star is practically inaudible. Lucasfilm’s response has been noncommittal to say the least. Finally, where these films should have been two disc special editions in their own right, there is only the one disc devoted to extras on this set, although there are commentaries with each film. The main extra is a fairly comprehensive documentary “The Empire Of Dreams” although it does focus more on the first film. In addition there is a fair amount of promotional puff material and a conspicuous lack of deleted scenes.
So what are the reasons to buy the Star Wars trilogy boxset?
It’s Star Wars! On DVD! Buy it!
1. Returner
You may be wondering why Star Wars isn’t my number one choice this year. It’s just that a small portion of my attention was devoted to cataloguing the changes that Lucas had wrought, instead of being completely devoted to enjoying myself. That’s something I cannot say of my favourite disc of 2004. Returner isn’t the most critically acclaimed film of 2004, and the disc isn’t the most technically accomplished. But Returner did without doubt provide the most enjoyable 2 hours of movie entertainment I have had this year.
It’s 2084 and the Earth is beleaguered by an implacable foe. The alien Daggra have decimated the world and are intent on exterminating the human race. The last surviving resistance is operating from Tibet, and a plan is hatched to use time travel to stop the war before it begins. However, before the plan is put into action the Daggra overwhelm the resistance, and the machine has to be activated prematurely. As the last warriors fall, the only one remaining that can make it to the time portal is 13-year-old Milly, and she is sent hurtling back in time.
October 19th 2002 and gun for hire Miyamoto is aboard a ship violently interrupting some human traffickers, when he finally comes face to face with the man that has haunted him since his childhood. Mizoguchi, a Japanese crime boss working for the Chinese Triads kidnapped Miyamoto’s friend to sell his organs and finally he’s earned his revenge. But their face-off is interrupted when Milly arrives in the past only to be shot for her troubles. Mizoguchi escapes and Miyamoto takes his unconscious victim (thanks to body armour) back to his flat. The next morning, Milly awakens to ask for Miyamoto’s help. She has two days to find a crashed spaceship and kill the alien pilot before the war begins. Miyamoto is naturally sceptical, but Milly uses her battle-hardened street smarts to convince him. So the unlikely pair begins the search for the alien, but trouble lies ahead, as Mizoguchi has learnt of the crashed spaceship and believes the alien technology will bring him unlimited power. Also Milly has to learn a shocking truth about the war that she has fought all her life.
The story is hardly original, and it’s fun just to see which properties are being plundered. It’s heavily influenced by Terminator and The Matrix, with a heavy dose of Independence Day to boot. A couple of dashes of ET, Back to the Future and Transformers just add to the fun, and seeing the Daggra spaceships transform gives just as much hope for a Transformers movie as does the recent Citroen advert.
What Returner lacks in originality is more than compensated for in terms of style and panache. The coupling of the super-cool anti hero Miyamoto with the streetwise Milly make this an exciting if unconventional buddy film. The bad guy Mizoguchi manages to chew the scenery with relish and provides an interesting foe. The effects, obviously inspired by The Matrix are accomplished well, with bullet time used in excess. It’s an action packed thrill ride from beginning to end, and even the brief but exceedingly cheesy English acting only adds to the charm.
If it’s pure popcorn entertainment that you require, then you’ll have to look pretty far to find a better film than Returner this year.
