Not a lot for us this week so we’ll start with the best of the bunch. If you are on the site you see Robby the Robot on the top left corner so of course we’re opening with the new 4K release of Forbidden Planet. The movie is monumental in the science fiction genre helping to create many of the tropes and stereotypes and aesthetic designs of sci-fi. Robby the Robot was one of the first robots to be a major character not just a machine. It’s classic sci-fi storytelling with the crew of a spaceship on a year’s journey to land on a planet that a past crew was sent to. They get there looking for survivors and find one man and his daughter who was born on the planet. Something has killed off the rest and the man just wants to be left alone. It’s Shakespeare’s The Tempest, but in space starring a young Leslie Nielsen, Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis and more. We don’t get Kubrick’s 2001, Ridley Scott’s Alien or any other sci-fi film without Forbidden Planet. The 4K looks great and sounds even better. The Limited Edition release features a brand-new 4K restoration from the original 35mm negative by Arrow Films. I’ve seen the film countless times and this is the best it’s looked. The bonus features include a new commentary, archival documentary and lots of Robby the Robot stuff so that was right up my alley.
Back in rotation for The Nerds Templar are Mill Creek Entertainment’s Retro VHS Slipcover releases. We got two this week featuring two flicks one I haven’t seen in forever, the other I don’t know if I’m familiar with it. First is The Borrowers starring John Goodman, Jim Broadbent, Hugh Laurie and more. The 1990s British film is based on Mary Norton’s The Borrowers books and I probably haven’t seen it since it was released in the late 90s. It’s been so long I didn’t even know that Tom Felton of Harry Potter fame played the son Borrower. If you aren’t familiar with the books/film, borrowers are Elf like human creatures that borrow (never steal) things from around your house to survive. The human family finds out they need to leave the house because Goodman’s lawyer character lies about a will not existing because he wants to knock the house down to build his own apartment complex. The boy in the human family meets the Borrowers and together they need to find a way to stop the house from being torn down. It’s very British and very 1990s. I’m sure there are people who grew up on the film who genuinely love it and they will love the new Retro VHS slipcover for the Blu-ray. Retro VHS Slipcover releases were always some of my favorite Mill Creek products.
The second Retro VHS Slipcover release this week is Nadine. Despite starring Jeff Bridges, Kim Basinger, Jerry Stiller and Rip Torn, I don’t think I know this one. After watching it, I can kind of see why. Basinger plays Nadine, a pregnant woman trying to get some “adult” photos back from Jerry Stiller, but he winds up dead. She snags a folder she thinks has her photos in it, but it turns out to be plans for a highway development. Bridges plays her soon to be ex-husband and father of her child. Together they get caught up in the drama along with Rip Torn’s shady real estate crime boss type and have the authorities after them because they think Basinger killed Stiller. It’s very 80s slapstick-y and I can see why it’s not fondly remembered. The Retro VHS Slipcover is cool though.
Fourth we have Bad Counselors, a sort of faith based flick that is a lot more watchable than normal faith based films. Two college frat boys need to do many hours of community service after getting drunk and causing a scene. After accidentally going to a religious meeting, they join the camp as counselors to get their hours done pretending to be good Christians. Neither are all that religious and are immediately fish-out-of-water counselors in a Christian based setting. Of course the main guy falls for the daughter of the guy who runs the camp played by American Pie’s Chris Klein. Of course their plan backfires and they have to make amends for lying to everyone after developing closeness with some of the kids there. It’s a faith based film, but even as a non-religious person, I didn’t feel like it beat you over the head too much. Is it something I’d watch again? No, but it’s wholesome enough for the family audience it’s made for. The lead guy did remind me of a young Jensen Ackles so I wouldn’t be surprised to see him make a name for himself somewhere down the line.
Last we have Ninja Wars the latest Hiroyuki Sanada/Sonny Chiba collaboration to hit Blu-ray or 4K. This is from the early 80s and is a period fantasy action flick with a sorcerer, body swapping, over-the-top action and more. This is around the third Sanada/Chiba film I’ve watched in the past month or two and both were at the top of their games at this point. Chiba was handling most of the fight choreography. Sanada was very much the good looking leading man. Costuming is top-notch and the action is even better. I’m always surprised when these films have nudity too because I never expect it. I don’t know if I completely understood this one, but it’s a nice adition to the collection.
