The big flaring fashions were fun but also seemed wrong for what the character had to do, action-wise. I’ve liked other Frank Tashlin films, but here he seemed to be out of his element. I can’t help but compare it to the less wacky, more sophisticated touch of Stanley Donen in “Charade” and “Arabesque”, which I think might have made this film more palatable for me. I also like Dino’s “Matt Helm” flicks much better than this film, I’m afraid.

I watched some truly awful Jason Statham/Jet Li film last night called War. My only excuse? I just like looking at Jason Statham and Jet Li. Sadly, even the simple eye-candy of two shirtless & sweaty guys I like a lot couldn’t keep me interested in the movie. I had to turn it off before it was over.

I also watched Ghost Rider over Xmas for a similar reason. What a terrible awful movie that was.

I also want to mention that most of these films are available for rent online at places like Netfix and Greecine so even if you don’t have the extra funds to purchase the DVDs, you can still rent them.

Bob - I wanted to mention that if you want to read a little more about Chosen Survivors/Earth Dies Screaming I recommend checking out Arbogast’s blog since he’s written some more detailed reviews there that are worth a look. I also really recommend checking out some of Yasuzo Masumura’s other films such as Black Test Car and Afraid to Die. Even if you didn’t enjoy Blind Beast (it’s probably his most experimental film) all that much, I think you might find stuff to really like in his other films.

Robert - I haven’t picked up the new Kubrick set either (I own the old one though) but it looks amazing! I’m afraid I have no re-releases on my list such as the new Mario Bava sets because I haven’t seen any of them. Replacing all my old DVDs is a bit costly for me right now, especially when there are so many films being released on DVD for the first time lately that I can’t pass up.

Arbogast - Richard Harris would have ate Jackie Cooper for breakfast and let the bats feed on his bones!

AR - I think you’ll really enjoy Anger’s work and I hope you’ll write about it in the future. I’m afraid I’ve stayed away from the Hairspray remake due to lack of interest and because I like Water’s original film so much. It does look like a watered down version of the original and I don’t really understand the appeal, but it seems to be popular. You’re a braver person than I for making the time to watch it! ;)

I knew about the Jodorowsky set because he’s one of my favorite directors, thus collecting his work is a long term goal. I believe we’ve discussed the absence of Santa Sangre from the set before, and I have a vague feeling it may have something to do with the rights to the film.
I do think that El Topo and Holy Mountain go very well together. They more directly address many of the same ideas and are stylistically consistent. Santa Sangre is certainly a more subtle, developed film that works just as easily as horror. I do hope it gets proper dvd release eventually.

A few of these look very interesting. I will have to refer to these 2 lists again.
I’m currently binging on film noir. The only break so far has been watching Hairspray w/my mother, which was OK. But I still wonder what the point of the musical and then movie really was. I’ve only seen some of the original, but I’m familiar w/John Waters and get his sensibility. It’s really weird to see that sensibility stripped down to a cute veneer.

As for the first ten, as usual I vigorously agreed with some choices and was exposed to many things I didn’t know about yet.

Thanks for continuing to be great!

Your lists invariably always make me update my own to-buy list or, at the very least, my zip.ca queue. I added “Caprice” and “Chosen Survivors/Earth Dies Screaming” to my zip queue and have bumped up viewing priorities on others that were already on my radar (in particular “Horrors Of Malformed Men” - just from that screencap!).

I must say, I wasn’t a huge fan of “Blind Beast” after my first viewing, but the damned thing has left an imprint in my brain…And I keep feeling the urge to re-watch it in order to figure out why it sticks with me so much and to perhaps catch deeper references (I think I would need to better understand Japanese society at the time of the film’s release).

logboy - No offense, but your comments are kind of odd. Please re-read my first post located here and you’ll understand that these films aren’t listed in any kind of numerical order. They’re listed alphabetically. Just like last years list, I’m posting 10 films at a time because I enjoy writing about my selections and frankly it takes time to compile and write 30 DVD reviews and they can be rather lengthy to read (I tend to be a wordy blogger). And thanks for the viewing tips, but I don’t need any pointers. I’m perfectly capable of selecting my own Top 30 favorite DVD releases from 2007. I’m just busy writing them up and as I mentioned in my previous post, my selections are DVDs that feature films originally released in the ’60s or ’70s (which are the film eras my blog focuses on) and many of the films you mentioned are current releases. Last but not least, thanks for sharing your thoughts on Black Test Car. It’s a terrific film and I personally think the term “satire” could easily be applied to it. If you haven’t seen Masumura’s Giants and Toys yet, it’s a must, but I think his best films are Blind Beast and Afraid to Die. I hope Fantoma releases more of his films in the future.

Steve - Thanks a lot. I know about the Region 2 DVD of Santa Sangre even though I only have an old VHs of the film myself, but I really wish a Region 1 DVD was available. I was disappointed that it wasn’t included in the Jodorowsky collection. Thanks for mentioning it though. It’s a fantastic film!

anyway, ‘black test car’ is one of my favourite releases of 2007 also. masumura’s diversity feels apparent from the few films released on disc that i’ve been able to see… and this, although not what i would personally call a satire, is more of a dry, detailed, dark drama with typically japanese comedic touches at the briefest moments. it just tips towards too dark for there to be any room left to leave a tinge of satire. anyway, that’s by the by. the film’s just superbly tight, quite the opposite of the drifting ‘red angel’… disc is perhaps the nicest of the masumura’s i’ve seen also.

as for ‘horrors of malformed men’, glad to see it, love the visuals and abstractness of it all, but didn’t think it worked that well for me, not initially at least. need to watch it again.

other favourites of the year, if you need pointers : citizen dog, green minds metal bats, perversion story, linda linda linda, i’m a cyborg… , nightmare detective, retribution, eye in the sky, flower and snake, secret sunshine, tekkon kinkreet, girl who leapt through time, female, the psychic, tattooed flower vase, quick-draw okatsu, triangle.

spent some time catching up or backtracking, so there’s more i enjoyed not new to 2007 too.