DVD Geeks

A Night To Remember

One hundred years ago, one of the most famous disasters in modern history occurred when the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg and sent more than 1,500 people to their deaths. In the century since then, the story of the Titanic and her doomed passengers has become a sort of touchstone – a pop-culture landmark – that fascinates to this day.

We were happy to receive several Blu-ray and DVD releases commemorating the loss of the luxury liner, and we are glad to share them with you. First up, the 1958 “A Night to Remember” which was based on the best-selling book of the same name captured all the grandeur some 40 years before James Cameron. We’ll follow that up with a look at a new release of some of History Channel’s best documentary looks at the wreck of the Titanic.

We’ve also got a brand new British mini-series, “Titanic,” written by Julian Fellowes of “Downton Abbey” fame. This take is a little different, featuring a sprawling ensemble cast and diving deeply into the class differences that dictated the Edwardian era.

Finally, we’ll break the theme a little with a more modern tragedy, “Shame,” starring Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan.

All that plus much more – join us on the next DVD Geeks!

[audio http://podcast.dvdgeeks.tv/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/dvdgeeks-4-24-12.mp3]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

In this “better late than never” episode of DVD Geeks (we had a couple of technical difficulties to overcome), we look at three jam-packed new releases that are well-worth your attention.

“The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” is an eerie thriller featuring Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara as an unlikely pair to unravel a family mystery in Sweden. The dark tale is based on the “Millennium” book series and subsequent Swedish film trilogy. David Fincher gets his turn here with the American version, and we’ll dive into the extensive bonus features to see what makes “Dragon Tattoo” tick.

We’ve also got the overwhelmingly odd Japanese sensation “Battle Royale” here in a deluxe 4-disc set. The bleak futuristic world pits high-school students against each other in a death match meant as a kind of societal control. It’s a war movie with a twist – we’ll give you the low-down on this movie that took 11 years to make it to the U.S.

Finally, we lighten the mood with Chris Elliott’s new series for Adult Swim, “Eagleheart.” He’s sort of like Chuck Norris but with a combover, and he leaves an unimaginable body-vount in his wake.

All that plus the week’s Honorable Mentions and much more!

[audio http://podcast.dvdgeeks.tv/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/dvdgeeks-4-3-12.mp3]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Corman's World

On tonight’s show: Roman Polanski’s latest, a loving tribute to Roger Corman and one of the greatest TV epics of all time!

In “Carnage,” Roman Polanski puts the powerhouse cast of Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz and John C. Reilly into a dark farce about adults losing their cool when they try to clean up the mess created by their children. Taking place in one New York apartment, “Carnage” barrels ahead with snappy dialogue and emotional ups-and-downs.

Next up, we’ll see the latest entry from uber-producer Roger Corman “Camel Spiders” then we’ll take in the delightful biopic about the man himself “Corman’s World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel.” It’s a star-studded tribute to one of the industry’s true creative and business forces. He was indie before indie was cool, and he’s reinvented himself over the decades. We can’t recommend it highly enough.

Finally, if you’re caught a bit of a fever for all things ancient history because of shows like “Rome” and “Spartacus,” we want to clue you in about the 35th Anniversary DVD release of one of the greatest TV epics of all time: “I, Claudius.” Produced by the BBC in 1976 and featuring an incredible cast, the series recounts the Julio-Claudian dynasty in all its treachery, salaciousness and madness.

All that plus the week’s honorable mentions and more!

[audio http://podcast.dvdgeeks.tv/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/dvdgeeks-3-27-12.mp3]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Deadheads

In the zombie-road-trip-buddy-comedy “Deadheads,” Brent is helping his friend Mike track down the girl who broke his heart three years ago. The only complication is that they are both dead and being chased by a nefarious government agency planning to keep the dead from walking around amongst the living. We welcome special guests directors Brett and Drew Pierce along with co-star Natalie Victoria for an inside look at this indie favorite.

We also have a look at the torrid life of French musician Serge Gainsbourg in the fantasy biopic “Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life.” Featuring a delightful jazz and pop soundtrack along with some of the screen’s most beautiful women, “Gainsbourg” is a spectacle of sensuality in recounting the boundary-pushing mid-century Paris.

In “The Descendants,” George Clooney stars as a man who is facing the loss of his wife who was carrying on an affair.  During the turmoil, he reconnects with his essentially estranged daughters and tries to track down his wife’s lover. It’s a smart blend of tragedy and real-world comedy set in beautiful Hawaiian locations.

Finally, we see how the universe formed and what led life to its present state: from bacteria to dinosaurs, from amoeba to humanity. A&E presents “A History of the Universe in Two Hours.”

All that plus more – it’s an all new DVD Geeks!

[audio http://podcast.dvdgeeks.tv/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/dvdgeeks-3-20-12.mp3]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

My Week With Marilyn

On tonight’s DVD Geeks: we’re delighted to spend a couple of hours peeking in on the set with Marilyn Monroe and Laurence Olivier in the Academy Award nominated “My Week with Marilyn.” It’s a bio-pic with an interesting premise: drawn from a real-life memoir, the film focuses on a narrow single week in London in 1956 when a young film fan gets to work with his idols on their new film.

We’ve also got a couple of indies that flew under the radar amidst all the award-season hoopla. First, “Bad Actress” puts a dysfunctional Hollywood family in the spotlight when they start to solve their differences with murderous plots. Next, we’ve got a stoner road-trip movie “High Road” which grounds its over-the-top comedy in some excellent improvised performances.

Those plus the week’s Honorable Mentions and more!

[audio http://podcast.dvdgeeks.tv/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/dvdgeeks-3-6-12.mp3]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Project Nim

Nuns! Chimps! Nazis! A little something for everyone this week on DVD Geeks!

We’ve got two horror films on DVD this week, “The Dead” and “The Devil’s Rock.” The first is a slow-walker zombie apocalypse in Africa and the second is an intimate World War II drama with a demonic twist. Both flew under the radar, and we’re glass to give them their due on tonight’s show.

In “Nude Nuns With Big Guns,” a vigilante sister takes a corrupt Mexican parish into her own hands, making a habit of doling out justice.

In “Project Nim,” a group of unlikely researchers investigate the language capacity of chimpanzees by attempting to raise one as a human from birth. When Nim grew into adolescence and adulthood, his true nature put the research on hold. In this extraordinary documentary, the people closest to Nim share their stories and the emotional connections they had with him.

Next up, Adult Swim skewers reality shows with the witness-relocation comedy “Delocated” and we’ll see the latest offering from Asylum with their comedy “Celebrity Sex Tape.”

All that plus a slew of Honorable Mentions and more!

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Star Trek: The Next Generation on Blu-ray

We couldn’t wait. We tried and we tried, but the siren call of the “Star Trek: The Next Generation” Blu-ray sampler was too strong. We just had to jump into the high-def goodness of this sampler pack of TNG “The Next Level” a week early and see what all the hype was about. We’ll give you the inside scoop with a breakdown of all three episodes and our hearty recommendation to pick this one up!

We’ll also spend some time with a quirky indie (aren’t they all?) called “Dirty Girl” in which the class slut takes off with the class closet-case on a cross-country road-trip to find her biological father. It aims high with its blend of detailed characters and edgy humor, and we’ll see if the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

We’ll also give the folks over at B-movie juggernaut The Asylum their due with their foray into the undead craze “Zombie Apocalypse.” Can their low-budget effects and shoe-string budget craft a compelling zombie flick? Stay tuned…

All that plus a big roundup of honorable mentions and more!

[audio http://podcast.dvdgeeks.tv/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/dvdgeeks-1-24-12.mp3]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

On the latest DVD Geeks, we get to recap our favorite and least favorite DVDs from 2011 and look forward to what 2012 has to offer.

We’ve brought together a wide array of genre favorites, overlooked gems and a few big-budget blockbusters to create an eclectic list. Some of our choices may surprise you! If you disagree, let us know…

We’ll also recap some of the recent newest releases in our Honorable Mentions and spend a few minutes looking at the 25th anniversary release of the punk love story “Sid and Nancy,” now making its Blu-ray debut.

[audio http://podcast.dvdgeeks.tv/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/dvdgeeks-1-10-12.mp3]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

As we closer to the end of the year and the holiday gift-giving season is in full effect, we dig deep into three remarkable DVDs sure to make spirits bright.

First up, Woody Allen continues his recent successes with the feel-good romantic fantasy of the year “Midnight in Paris.” Owen Wilson stars as a writer at a crossroads in his life and seeks out the advice and escape of his newfound friends (Ernest Hemingway, Salvador Dali, F. Scott Fitzgerald) who happen to be living their lives nearly 80 years ago.

In “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” we get a modern prequel to one of the greatest science fiction franchises of all time. It’s so good, it almost made us forget about that Tim Burton debacle from a few years back. James Franco stars as the scientist on the verge of a breakthrough for degenerative brain disease, but he may have kickstarted the apes’ rapid rise along the evolutionary scale.

Finally, the creative duo of Charles and Ray Eames re-defined art and design during the middle of the 20th century and their impact still holds sway today. In “Eames: The Architect and the Painter” we get a solid look at their creative output as well as a peek into their private lives.

All of this plus a couple of special geek gift ideas, our weekly honorable mentions and much more!

[audio http://podcast.dvdgeeks.tv/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/dvdgeeks-12-21-11.mp3]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.