On the Run From Johnny Law…. Ain’t No Trip to Pajiba
The Daily Trade Round-Up / Daniel Carlson
Trade News | October 4, 2007 | Comments (38)
One of the first DVDs I ever owned — the first one I ever received as a gift, in fact — was the Criterion Collection edition of Rushmore. Criterion is highly regarded for the quality sets it produces, and though a few random titles like Armageddon have managed to puzzlingly infiltrate its ranks, the series itself is mostly fantastic. After Rushmore, Wes Anderson’s films continued to receive the Criterion treatment, including the splendid The Royal Tenenbaums and the deeply flawed The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, but there were always murmurs from Anderson/Criterion fans that his first film, Bottle Rocket, deserved a Criterion release as well. Imagine the extras, the featurettes, the picture and sound quality that Criterion could bring to the quirky, underappreciated comedy. And now, there finally appears to be a light at the end of the tunnel. MTV’s news blog is reporting that Anderson has just begun working with Criterion on the Bottle Rocket release, which will feature “all kinds of stuff,” Anderson said. “There’s a lot of Bottle Rocket that was on the cutting room floor, so we have a lot to work with on that one.” Such sweet, glorious news. In addition to the pleasing aspect of having a director’s entire oeuvre in Criterion editions, there’s a good chance Anderson will load the disc with the same quality bonus features he brought to his other movies. Personally, I’m hoping for the original Bottle Rocket short film that launched everything, and a featurette on Kumar. Regardless, Criterion releases take a long time to put together, meaning the new Bottle Rocket likely won’t be out until late 2008 or early 2009. But now that I know it’s happening, I’m happy to wait just a little longer.
What else happened this week … oh yeah: Paul Walker and Vin Diesel are in talks to return for what will sadly be the fourth installment in the Fast and the Furious series. This isn’t one of those news items I can even get myself worked up about too much, and not because it isn’t distressing — because it definitely is — but because come on, who really cares? Even people with nothing more than a dented brain stem floating around in a puddle of PBR don’t actually like Fast and the Furious in any real way. It has cars, and breasts, and probably some guns. Whatever. If you hate the movies, congratulations, you’re a functioning member of society.
Finally, this morning’s trailer watch brings a pair of clips I feel are worth sharing. The first is the latest teaser for Disney/Pixar’s Wall-E, which looks charming and cute and all that usual Pixar jazz. The movie’s about a robot that wants to explore space, and damn if it doesn’t look like it’ll be another hit:
The next clip is for Magnolia’s Great World of Sound, a documentary-style comedy that mixes actual hidden-camera footage with actors in a narrative. It’ll all get clearer in a minute:
Daniel Carlson is the managing editor of Pajiba and a low-level employee at a Hollywood industry magazine. You can visit his blog, Slowly Going Bald.
Comments
Posted by: Alex the Odd at October 4, 2007 7:24 AM
Ok, so puppies I don't get but sad-eyed robots? So cute I might just die! I want one. Lord help me but I can't resist Disney/Pixar. I even loved Meet the Robinsons.
Anything that increases the amount of Bottle Rocket in my life is A OK with me. I can justify owning three copies of the same movie, right?