It’s not often you see a film whose convictions, dramatically and visually, match its ambitions all the way through. Although it’s been oft-parodied for years, James Cameron’s eloquent, unforgettable 1997 Oscar-winner TITANIC (194 mins., 1997, PG-13; Paramount) is one of those special films: an “epic” with an intimate, character-driven center, set against a meticulously recreated historical period that truly makes one feel that you’re experiencing life on the doomed ocean liner itself.
Filmmaker Fred Dekker has been involved in a number of genre favorites over the years, from penning the original story for Steve Miner’s haunted house chiller “House” to writing and directing the cult fave 1986 homage “Night of the Creeps.” Regrettably, the window of opportunity for some directors can open and close in a heartbeat, and as Dekker himself has noted, he “killed” his own career twice — first with the failure of the 1987 kid-fantasyTHE MONSTER SQUAD (82 mins., 1987, PG-13; Kino Lorber)and later with the well-intentioned “Robocop 3,” which sat on the shelf for several years while Orion Pictures went bankrupt and the audience for the series went elsewhere.
La-La Land has announced five end-of-year "Black Friday" releases which are now available to order -- a three-disc "Ultimate Edition" of John Williams' popular score for Steven Spielberg's 1991 fantasy HOOK, featuring Williams' Oscar-nominated song "When You're Alone"; a two-disc edition of James Horner's rousing swashbuckler score for the 1998 hit THE MASK OF ZORRO; a two-disc edition of another Horner favorite, his catchy score for the caper comedy-thriller SNEAKERS, featuring both the score as heard in the film and the soundtrack release sequencing; a remastered and expanded edition of Maurice Jarre's score for one of Alfred Hitchcock's final films, the international spy thriller TOPAZ; and the first ever release of Henry Mancini's score for the 1966 romantic thriller MOMENT TO MOMENT, starring Jean Seberg and Honor Blackman and directed by Golden Age great Mervyn LeRoy (Anthony Adverse, Quo Vadis, The Bad Seed).
Varese Sarabande is expected to announce their final CD Club release(s) of the year today.
