DVD Afternoon Podcast #71: Shut Up, Crime!

It's just as hard to be a criminal as it is to be a crimefighter, and maybe even harder: that's the moral of the two movies Heather Noel and I review on this week's DVD Afternoon podcast. First, we take an early look at the Criterion edition of Stanley Kubrick's 1956 classic The Killing (arguably the greatest heist-gone-wrong movie ever made, and certainly the most fatalistic), then we share some quick thoughts on James Gunn's Super, the latest entry in the Kick-Ass/Defendor/costumed-vigilante/comic-book-deconstruction subgenre, starring Rainn Wilson, Ellen Page, and Kevin Bacon.

But that's just the tip of the DVD iceberg! The opening random-stuff-we-also-happened-to-watch-this-week segment is unusually rich this episode, with Heather and I describing our experiences at the first night of screenings at the deluxe new headquarters of venerable Edmonton cinematheque Metro Cinema (Heather went to see a late-night showing of The Big Lebowski while I caught an earlier screening of Meek's Cutoff). Heather also gives a mini-review of the influential 1945 British horror anthology Dead of Night, while I take the opportunity to rave some more about Joe Johnston's 1991 retro adventure The Rocketeer. And of course there's the usual roundup of the week's other most noteworthy new DVDs and Blu-Rays, a lineup that this week is especially heavy on classic high-school comedies from the ’80s and ’90s, and not-so-classic auetur comedies from earlier this year.

Here's the breakdown:

0:00 — Intro/The Big Lebowski/Meek's Cutoff/Dead of Night/The Rocketeer
19:35 — Suicide, "Rocket U.S.A."
20:22 — The Killing
35:23 — Bram Tchaikovsky, "Robber"
36:14 — Super/Other noteworthy new DVDs and Blu-Rays/Outro

Here's that classic Big Lebowski trailer, which enchanted Heather even at the size of a postage stamp:



And here's the trailer for The Rocketeer, which allows you to experience nostalgia for the 1930s and the obsolete special-effects technology of the 1990s at the very same time:



You can subscribe to DVD Afternoon through iTunes, or you can download this week's episode directly by clicking here.

And if you'd like to comment on the show, respond to our reviews, or suggest other movies for Heather and me to talk about on the air, you can reach us at dvdafternoon [at] gmail [dot] com. Next week, we'll be skipping past a couple of more high-profile arthouse titles (including Jane Eyre and The Conspirator) in favour of some deeper cuts: the new Criterion edition of Roman Polanski's previously hard-to-find absurdist comedy Cul-de-Sac, and The Ward, horror maestro John Carpenter's first film in a decade. If you've seen either of those films and want to send us your thoughts about them, or if you'd like to add to our discussion of The Killing or Super, we'd love to hear your thoughts (and possibly read them on-air).