DVDuesday

On today's DVDuesday, Chris Gore talked about The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, based on the short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and it got me thinking that, sometimes, you can make a great long film based on a very short story. Examples? Thought you'd never ask. Here we go.

Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, Stephen King - This very short, nearly throw-away story from Stephen King's Different Seasons, which came out in 1982, formed the basis for the one movie on Earth that it seems that everyone likes. Seriously, you can not find anyone who doesn't like The Shawshank Redemption. The story, though, is a lot more heady, and detail-oriented than the film's brilliantly drawn characters. Still, it's worth a read, so you should check it out.

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On today's edition of DVDuesday, Chris Gore talks about the Blu-Ray edition of Star Trek: The Original Series, in advance of JJ Abrams' Star Trek, which comes out next Friday, May 8th. So, it got me thinking...if you had to pick the Top 3 films in the Trek franchise, how would you do it? And then, to make it more difficult for me, I decided to omit the obvious best film in the series, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, because that would be like comparing Michael Jordan to the Washington Generals*.

So, here we go. In order of quality.

1. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) - This time-travel Trek story involves traveling back in time to modern-day Earth (when modern-day was 1986) to bring home a humpbacked whale, in the hopes that it will communicate with an alien that only speaks whale, and is hell-bent on destroying 23rd Century Earth. It's funny, it features a newly reborn Spock renewing his friendly rivalry with 'Bones' McCoy, and the single best Scotty moment in history, as he tries to interact with what, to him, is an ancient computer.

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Chris Gore will be on hand in today's show to talk about the DVD release of The Spirit. Before the movie got the grand treatment on the silver screen, it was a comic book by legendary creator, Will Eisner that most people hadn't heard of. Accordingly, today's Bonus Features will profile the big screen adaptations of some of the more obscure comic book characters ever created.

Howard the Duck - Before he was the centerpiece of a bad Lucasfilm endeavor, Howard the Duck was the foul mouthed, acerbic, truth-spewing star of his own title from Marvel Comics. The character still makes appearances in Marvel books today (you can spot him in issue #6 of Secret Invasion, for example), although you're not likely to ever see him on the silver screen again.

Tank Girl - This multimillion dollar dud from 1995, actually helped bankrupt the magazine in which the Tank Girl comic originated. Who would have thought that an adaptation of a comic book about a chick in a tank who fights an evil megacorp, along with talking kangaroos, would fail?

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Slumdog Millionaire follows the story of a ghetto kid in rural India who finds success on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? We'd like you to buzz in and check out these other movies that feature game shows as well.

Magnolia 1999 - Philip Baker Hall's portrayal of the troubled alcoholic, adulterous game show host Jimmy Gator in P.T. Anderson's masterpiece film is enough reason alone to revisit this 10-year old film or watch it for the first time, especially if you've forgotten how amazing Tom Cruise can be in the right setting. Also game show related is the storyline of Quiz Kid Donny Smith played by William H. Macy who has some of the funniest and darkest moments in the film. Sure, it's 3 hours long and there's some weird stuff in it, but it's all worth it.

Quiz Show 1994 - John Turturro plays dorky pushover Herbie Stempel in this tense thriller about a real-life cover up on a 50s game show where the prettier contestant, played by Ralph Fiennes, who had been a longtime champion on the show, was fed answers to questions. How the whole thing unfolds is really fantastic and amazing performances are turned in by everyone involved.

The Running Man 1987 - If you want to see Arnold in his heyday this is the film to do it, if you don't count Total Recall and Commando and Predator. But anyway, The Running Man is a great comic look at the future of entertainment in America as it chronicles the story of a group of prisoners put into the country's most popular game show where they have to escape a series of deadly murderers sent after them in a giant playing field. Maria Conchita Alonso is hot and Arnold is bulky and crazy like usual. Also note Richard Dawson, the real-life original host of Family Feud, who stars as the villainous host of the game show, who turns in a sweet performance as well.

National Lampoon's European Vacation 1985 - In this first sequel to the wildly successful Vacation film from National Lampoon, the Griswolds find themselves on the Pig in a Poke game show where they win a European family trip. Once this opening scene is over however, nothing good happens until the German chick shows her boobs to Rusty. Eric Idle falls into a big fountain on crutches and you retroactively learn that "sex" is German for six. That's really what you've got to look forward to in this one.

Just keeping you abreast, as we are want to do. You're welcome.

On today's DVDuesday, Chris Gore reviews the newest Bond film, Quantum of Solace, which has to be one of the worst names for a film that we've ever seen, but it's not the only poorly named film out there...so, we're making a list of some of those films so that you can see what bad film names are all about.

The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain (1995) - The who who did what and came down what now? This Hugh Grant film about the exciting world of cartography was likely meant to be whimsical and terribly British, but the title made it seem like it was going to be all about reading a topographical map.

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