DVDIALOG

October 28, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

I had an appointment to phone comic Jim Jefferies in an Indianapolis hotel at 6:00est to interview him in conjunction with his new DVD, the HBO comedy special I Swear to God (HBO/Warner), which was released last week. I dialed the number, asked for Geoffrey Nugent and was quickly connected to a room. Jim Jefferies answered with a relaxed “Hello?.”

Geoffrey Nugent? A pretty calm joke for the high-energy Australian comic who mostly known for his in-your-face, politically incorrect humor.

“Yeah, the names are fun,” Jeffe...Read More

October 22, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

Having given us “something completely different” in their 20s and 30s, the members of Monty Python’s Flying Circus have little left to prove. Thus, their latter-day reunions have come in the form of group interviews that are eagerly awaited by Python fans — the last one having occurred in 1998 at the Aspen Comedy Festival.

The five living members — plus the Pythons’ female foil Carol Cleveland and a cardboard cut-out of the late Graham Chapman — reunited for a very unrehearsed Q&A sessions after the debut American showing at the Ziegfeld theater in New York City of the Eagle Rock documentary Monty Python: Almost the Tr...Read More

October 20, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (1)

“One million dollars, Mr. Bond. You were wondering what it cost,” Joseph Wiseman coolly announces as the price of his evil lair’s fish tank to Sean Connery’s visibly impressed Agent 007 in the very first big screen James Bond adventure, 1962’s Dr. No. Wiseman portrayed the not-so-good titular doctor, the very first in a lengthy series of super-villain—and still one of the best—to have his designs on world domination foiled by the world’s greatest secret agent. Wiseman died yesterday at his home in Manhattan at the age of 91.

...Read More

October 16, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (1)

A few quick words on The Stepfather—no, not the new version starring Dylan Walsh that’s opening theatrically today, but rather the original 1987 thriller directed by Joseph Ruben and starring Terry O’Quinn. It was issued on DVD this past Tuesday by Shout! Factory and we reviewed it last week (http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6700383.html).

The DVD contains a commentary and retrospective featurette that includes contributions by writer Brian Garfield, producer Jay Benson and director Joseph Ruben. It’s all quite informative (Garfield interestingly...Read More

October 13, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (17)

Recruited by filmmaker Tony Scott (Top Gun, Man on Fire, Crimson Tide) to star as one of subway hijacker John Travolta’s nasty partners in the thriller The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (available on DVD and Blu-ray from Sony on Nov. 3), Victor Gojcaj makes for an memorably imposing figure in his first-ever feature film. So much so, in fact, that the 6’4”, Detroit-born, Bronx-raised, Albanian descendant Gojcaj has already lined up his second project. And wouldn’t you know that it’s Tony Scott’s latest film, the action thriller Unstoppable!? It looks like the very successful, very prolific filmmaker has found something he likes in Gojcaj—just as the ...Read More