Flickchart Daily: Matchup of The Day and the Week’s DVD/Blu-ray Releases

Flickchart Matchup of the Day

Whether I like it or not, the oeuvre of Rob Reiner (65 today) occupied a substantial part of my movie watching as I was growing up.  I noticed that no one has commented on these two Stephen King adaptations, so here’s your chance:   

Misery vs. Stand by Me

I’m not really sure which one I’ve seen the most times.  In the case of Stand by Me, there’s a good chance that I watched every single cable television airing of the film when I was a teenager.  Part of the appeal was that Ben E. King’s song struck some kind of chord with me.  I felt just as obligated to watch the movie whenever it was on as I did to roll the car window down and blare the radio any time the song was playing.  This is the music video that came out for the film.  River Phoenix and Wil Wheaton both make an appearance:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRbTJRT7SRQ[/youtube]

I’m sure we’ve all experienced the phenomenon where you hit a wall with a film and there’s no more enjoyment that can be gotten from it.  You keep racking up viewing after viewing feeling as though you are on the way to reaching some spiritual climax, and then … total disillusionment.  For Stand by Me, that moment arrived the night I watched an edited television version.  As you know, a considerable amount of coarse language is exchanged by the youthful cast.  Also, there’s the legendary vomit free-for-all.  Commercial TV was not kind to those parts of the movie.  I felt like a junkie whose desperation for a Stand by Me fix had forced me to lower myself to watching it even in a brutally censored form.  So disturbed was I by every line of awkwardly sanitized dialogue that I vowed never to watch another edited film for the rest of my life.  And I haven’t been able to look at Stand by Me the same way ever since.      

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaScSS5wj00[/youtube]

I still think Misery is pretty good.

 

New Blu-ray and DVD Releases

Animals United

GERMAN VERSION

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbRv4jOkgCs[/youtube]

ENGLISH VERSION

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAFtwYi-QuA[/youtube]

 

The Skin I Live In

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcEdhBx6U9c[/youtube]

 

Blade of Kings

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McqJFP6y0DU[/youtube]

 

Immortals

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VdONYkKFmQ[/youtube]

 

Gainsbourg

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boT5jOfwkZQ[/youtube]

 

Jack and Jill

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHKTXrUnN58[/youtube]

 

Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixt4MxgK9kE[/youtube]

 

Like Crazy

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTUvX_pYNBM[/youtube]

 

London River

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iOQ6Hi7Tns[/youtube]

 

Tooth Fairy 2

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoLDPTkEYIg[/youtube]

 

Senna

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BTqnKH3amY[/youtube]

 

Columbus Circle

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04nXpbJX3ec[/youtube]

 

Footloose

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtjI6OHVk00[/youtube]

 

Meeting Spencer

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1nFO76Zo6U[/youtube]

 

Recoil

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njmF5r4rSxs[/youtube]

 

The Midnight Horror Collection: Killjoy/Killjoy 2/Killjoy 3

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9FmdqvPLX8[/youtube]

 

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFUNIuOSmXY[/youtube]

 

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVGrV_QB6P4[/youtube]

 

Universal is releasing collector’s Blu-ray/DVDs in recognition of their 100th anniversary.  Here’s what’s coming out today:  

The Egg and I

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42ixt8YowCY[/youtube]

 

Francis the Talking Mule

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhM14dAmvGc[/youtube]

 

Sullivan’s Travels

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUNHxGDLfIE[/youtube]

 

Three Smart Girls

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_n-U6vAbL0s[/youtube]

 

The Deer Hunter

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgRUgWubgzw[/youtube]

 

Harvey

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWmc_XRpa9U[/youtube]

 

More from Warner Archive:

Fearless Fagan (1952)

Joan Blondell – Glenda Farrell Double Feature: Traveling Saleslady (1935)/Miss Pacific Fleet (1935)

Johnny Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1944)

The Miniver Story (1950)

There are four movies that star Jim Brown if you want to start catching up on his filmography:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeWvvGdJ6I8[/youtube]

The Slams (1973)

Kenner (1969)

The Split (1968)

…tick… tick… tick… (1970)

 

SPECIAL BIRTHDAY RECOGNITION

Martin Kove, who played memorable villains in such films as The Karate Kid and Death Race 2000, turns 66 today.  Here’s a tribute video to Cobra Kai sensei John Kreese:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8lUt0Ile00[/youtube]