I’ve been writing about new DVDs and Blu-rays for a few years now. You’d think this would give me some special insight into release cycles and that I might possess a long memory of what’s hit the home video market over the years. You might think that, but you’d be wrong. I have no real idea of how or why various movies get released when they do. I also have a terrible memory which makes me forget what’s been released moments after I write about it.
This week I totally forgot that Criterion had released The Big Chill almost exactly a year ago. So when I saw that it was coming out this week I immediately made it my pick even though it’s not really different than what they released last year. I even wrote about it last year saying similar things to what I’m about to say here. I can’t actually find any information on why they are releasing it again, except that last year it was via their short-lived dual-format method (Blu-ray + DVD) and this time we’re just getting the Blu-ray.
Whatever the reasons I’ve decided to stand by picking it this week. It is a great movie. It deserves to be seen in the greatest of formats, and that’s still through Criterion. Anyways, here’s what I said before I realized my mistake.
In college, I developed a close relationship with a group of five guys. We were the best of friends. We hung out most nights into the wee hours, played poker, watched films, debated music, and discussed girls like they were the great mysteries of the universe. As college ended and our lives began, we stayed in touch for many years. There were long phone calls, loads of e-mails, and regular meet-ups. When blogs became popular, we got our own and discussed everything from politics to religion, family to the newest TV shows.
Then one day it just kind of fizzled.
That’s not true, it took a long time to completely fizzle but there was one day that I mark as the beginning of the end. That day came when one of the group got a new job. That job limited his internet access so he wouldn’t be able to blog with us during the day and he declared that when he was home he wanted to spend it with his family, not chatting on the computer. Once he left, we all slowly stopped posting and commenting soon after.
Facebook came not long after that, and while we all have our profiles and friended each other, it just isn’t the same. Oh sure, we like each others’ pictures and make the occasional comment, but we’ve never regained that intimacy we once had. We all moved on with our own lives. So it goes, I suppose.
Last summer marked the gang’s 20th anniversary since we first met in college. We talked for awhile about having a big meet-up by like all of our plans of late they fell through due to lack of interest. By while we were making plans I kept thinking about The Big Chill. In that film a group of old college pals get together after one of their crew commits suicide. They’ve not talked to each other in years but after the funeral they make a weekend of it. They reconnect, re-bond and ponder just how different they’ve all become. How their wide eyed ideologies have dwindled and changed and how they’ve become the very things they they loathed way back then. Its a remarkable film about life and growing up and rekindling old friendships while taking stock on who they are.
Looking back on the last 20 years of my life I consider how much I’ve changed. How different me and my friends have become. How the bonds we formed so long ago aren’t really gone, but are thinner, more intertwined with many other strings and therefore less important than they once were.At any rate The Big Chill is a great movie and I’m glad to see it getting a Blu-ray upgrade and the full Criterion treatment. Maybe next year I’ll meet-up with the gang. Maybe I’ll create my own classic rock soundtrack to go with it.
Also out this week that looks interesting:
House of Cards: Season 3: I’m somewhere in the middle of season two of this Netflix political drama. I’ve heard it really goes off the rails by season 3 and there are already some hints of that from where I am. They say its still lots of fun, but that any hint of realism gets tossed by the wayside. I’m ok with that as I get more than enough realism from listening to morons debate politics on Facebook.
The Tall Blond Man With One Black Shoe: A fun, funny French spy comedy get a Blu-ray upgrade. You can read my full review.
Woman in Gold: Helen Mirren stars in this true story of an Austrian woman who lost some priceless art to the Nazis and some sixty years she tries to get it back. Ryan Reynolds stars as the lawyer lending her a hand. I never say no to Mirren or Nazis.
Maggie: Arnold Schwarzenegger stars in this zombie flick that’s supposedly more meditative than gorey. Thoughtful rather than action-packed. Maybe being governor has done the old guy some good.
Poldark: An updating of the classic 1970s BBC/PBS Masterpiece series. I’d not heard of either version till now, but I love me some Masterpiece. Aiden Turner stars as a revolutionary redcoat who returns to Cronwall after the American Revolution and finds his homeland has changed dramatically.
The Killers (Criterion Collection): Ernest Hemingway’s short story was made into two films. The first was made in 1946 was directed by Robert Siodmak and starred Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner. The second was made in 1964, directed by Don Siegel and starred Lee Marvin and Angie Dickinson. Both are now available in high definition from Criterion.
Ned Kelly: Mick Jagger in a western singing Irish ballads? Yes, please.
Report to the Commissioner: I know nothing about this film, but the cover art with a half naked dead woman lying on a bed with a collection of cops and detectives shining their flashlights on the dark scene has me intrigued.
