Thursday 18 February 2010

TV

How I Met Your Mother
4x16 Sorry, Bro
[Watch it on 4oD from 25th March (probably).]

Non-Fiction / DVD Extras

"M": The Masters of Cinema Blu-ray Series #9 (DVD booklet), edited by Jess Fulton & Andrew Utterson

A typically informative booklet from MoC, accompanying their new release of M on DVD and Blu-ray (out Monday).

Writings include Fritz Lang himself discussing the film, once in 1931 and looking back in an interview from 1963; details on a missing scene from early in the film (the most complete surviving version, restored from numerous prints, is seven minutes short of the original running time); and a discussion of the French and English versions of the film, which as well as dubbing include some re-shot scenes, including Peter Lorre's first performance in English.

I suppose one might argue the booklet's short on analysis, but when the disc includes two full-length audio commentaries that feature two film scholars, a restoration expert, an historian, and filmmaker (and commentator extraordinaire) Peter Bogdanovich -- not to mention excerpts from interviews with Lang -- it's hard to justifiably complain, I think.

Articles

We're Watching: Green Screen Shatter Our TV
(from current)
A showreel for a visual effects company might sound a little dull, but this is pretty impressive. OK, some shots are obviously visual effects, and others obviously have to be, but what they pull off in others is nothing short of incredible. Who'd've thought there was so much fakery just to do city streets, for example, particularly in Ugly Betty -- in particular, the shot that begins 30 seconds in. It might look like nothing, but that's what makes it so impressive when you see the greenscreen replay.