Posted on: March 23rd, 2009 From The Vault – The Week of March 23, 2009
Welcome to week two of From the Vault. This weeks edition features my favorite Western and Comic book character with western origins. This week it was hard to decide what films to put in here my initial choices I could not use. But after some feedback and recommendations I narrowed it down to these two you see before you. So lets get to it.
Tombstone
“You going to do something or stand there and bleed?”
-Wyatt Earp
Stars: Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, Sam Elliot
Director: George P. Cosmatos (Rambo II, The Beloved)
There are many genres of film I will watch, Film Noir, Sci-Fi, action and even animated. But one genre I do not watch regularly is The Western. It was one genre that never fully captivated my interests. But there are a few that I will watch and have amongst my collection such as 3:10 to Yuma (the remake), Unforgiven and Tombstone. In my opinion Tombstone si the best one, though it is a very close race.
Tombstone depicts the events that occurred prior to and after the shootout at the OK coral involving the Earp brothers, Doc Holliday and the Cowboy gang. The Earp brothers are made up of Wyatt (Russell), Virgil (Elliot) and Morgan (Bill Paxton). I found this film to very entertaining, a very manly movie, it contains all the right ingredients, gunfights, tough men and a love affair just for the ladies. I will admit that there a few cheesy lines of dialogue, delivered for the most part by Russell, in particular the river gun battle when he yells no in super slow motion, it really took away from a pretty good movie up to that point. But it did manage to bring me back shortly after.
Tombstone has a pretty solid cast, as well as some fairly good cameos from Billy Bob Thornton, Charleton Heston , Jason Preistley, Billy Zane and Thomas Hayden Church. The standout performance has to be Val Kilmer, in what I believe to be his best role to date, as Doc Holliday. He delivers a sophisticated and suave gunman and Professional Gambler, many of my favorite lines were delivered by Doc. Powers Boothe and Michael Biehn provide us with some excellent contrast to Doc and Wyatt, as Curly Bill and Johnny Ringo respectively. Sam Elliot, as always, provides us with some great support. Kurt Russell was just ok, I found that he was playing the same role that he typically plays, “the tough bad ass, who does not take crap from nobody, hell bent on revenge.” The most disappointing acting came from Bill Paxton. He came across as out of place and looked like he struggled with his part as Morgan Earp, I typically enjoy most of Paxtons roles, just not this one.
I highly recommend viewing Tombstone if you have not, it is action packed with some real good quips from Val Kilmer.
Versions:
1) Single disk with the theatrical version. (Available in WS and FS)
2) Two Disk Vista Series Directors Cut. (Available in WS only)
Special Features:
Single Disk:
1)Theatrical Trailers.
Two Disk Vista Series Directors Cut:
1) Theatrical Trailers and TV Spots
2) 3 Part The Making of Tombstone series
i) An Ensemble Cast
ii) Making an Authentic Western
iii) The Gunfight at the OK Coral
3) Audio Commentary by director George P. Costmatos
4) Interactive Tombstone Timeline.
5) Directors original storyboards: OK Coral sequence.
6) The Tombstone Epitaph: Actual newspaper account.
7) Faro at The Oriental: Game of Chance (DVD ROM Feature)
8 ) Collectible Tombstone Map.
I find that that Making of featurettes are hit or miss, depending on the film, for Tombstone I found the making of features to be quite good and well worth watching, in particular the “An Ensemble Cast” part, it was interesting seeing how each actor cast prepared for their roles and researched their character. As well the comparisons done to their counterparts. “The Gunfight at the OK Coral” was also worth watching, just to see how it was all set up and done. Also checkout the interactive Tombstone Timeline, as it gives you a better understanding on the story and gives small insights as well. The rest of the features are pretty good for a one time viewing. As for the differences between the directors cut and the theatrical version, I can not say since I have only ever watched the directors cut, but if I had to guess, it would maybe some extended scenes and some more blood and violence.
Ghost Rider
“Yeah, I’m good. I feel like my skull is on fire, but I’m good”
- Johnny Blaze
When it comes to comic book films not every one meets the expectations of the comic book readers, It’s a fickle market, where few have treaded gently and many have trampled. Studios try and cash on in a name that everyone recognizes, regardless if it stays close to the source material. There have been some great adaptations and not so good, Ghost Rider, in my opinion fits somewhere in the middle. I enjoyed the film for good block of actions and a seeing one of my favorite comic book characters materialize on the big screen. But it lacked on so many levels, which made it a disappointment.
What made it disappointing was the lack of story and character depth. Everyone and everything came off as one dimensional and just there for show. The acting was deplorable in all aspects, there were no outstanding or great performance from any of the cast. Nicolas Cage looked like he was reading off a teleprompter and looked constipated during some of the more emotional scenes. Eva Mendes was disinterested and flat. Even Sam Elliot and Peter Fonda were terrible by comparison to other roles they have had. The saving grace, at least for me, was the excellent graphics, especially when it came to Ghost Rider himself. The story was predictable and really fell short, but almost made up for it in some pretty cool fight and action sequences.
You should enjoy Ghost Rider for what it is, not what it was suppose to be, an enjoyable popcorn flick. If you go in expecting it to be a great comic book film, will sadly be disappointed. Watch it with lowered expectations and you will end up alright.
Versions:
1) Single disk contains theatrical version. (Available in FS and WS)
2) Two disk extended cut. (Available in WS only)
Special Features:
Single Disk:
1) Trailers and TV Spots
2) Audio Commentary.
Two Disk Extended Cut:
1) Trailers and TV Spots
2) Audio Commentary
3) 3 Making of Featurettes:
i) Spirit of Vengeance
ii) Spirit of Adventure
iii) Spirit of execution
4) Sin and Salvation: Chronicling Forty years of Comic Book History
5) Animatics
I had bought the two disk extended cut because with a large portion of comic book based films, the special feature are pretty darn good and well worth the extra cash. Ghost Rider fell through the cracks. Aside from the animatics feature and the Sin and Salvation features, they all are rather boring and thrown together. The Animatics, goes through the process of turning Cage into Ghost Rider. Sin and Salvation goes through the entire Ghost Rider canon of history which I found quite entertaining. Again I have only seen the extended cut of the film, and I do not know what difference there are.
7 Responses to “From The Vault – The Week of March 23, 2009”
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Stan-Lee Says:
March 23rd, 2009 at 8:07 pmWooHoo! Tombstone! An alltime favorite of mine, great choice on that. I personally don’t own the DVD but I am thinking that the special features (after reading your review) are a must watch. i too agree that they are often hit or miss, and more times than none I just skip them over.
As far as Ghost Rider goes, I really enjoyed it, but I cant say that it was spectacular. But It was a very entertaining film, and was good, just not great. I have to completely agree that if you see it as a popcorn flick it will be enjoyable. Sure, it would have been awesome if it really kicked some major comic book movie ass but they cant all be blockbusters.
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Metallicat79 Says:
March 23rd, 2009 at 9:01 pmI highly recommend the Directors cut well worth it.
Ghost Rider had potential and is enjoyable still.
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Jon Stephens Says:
March 23rd, 2009 at 9:38 pmI don’t typically get into special features, unless I am really into the film, and they have more than just the standard “special features fare.”
Most of that, though, probably has more to do with money. I don’t typically “buy” DVD’s. I have “friends” for that… Screeners from “industry insiders” is the route I seem to go these days.
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Ryan Ferrier Says:
March 23rd, 2009 at 9:57 pmI really enjoy special features, but almost never seem to get time to watch them, sadly.
As for Ghost Rider… the character itself looked rad… but everything else was damn near unwatchable. Just another epic failure from Mark Stephen Johnson.
If you watch the Wicker Man with Nic Cage though, everything else seems Oscar worthy from him.
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Metallicat79 Says:
March 23rd, 2009 at 10:18 pmIts funny, when i look at my DVD collection I am surprised at how many special features i have seen, I must be some sort of hermit.
Nicolas Cage blows and really think his Oscar win really has gone to his head, because he really is no that good at anything.
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Robanah Says:
April 6th, 2009 at 8:37 pmhaven’t seen it, but i am a Cage fan
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Metallicat79 Says:
April 6th, 2009 at 9:18 pmYou should check it out, when you move back I will hva eto let yo borrow it