BACK TO THE 90s: Reviews of 6 Recent Warner Archive Blu-rays

George Feltenstein of the Warner Archive joins the podcast to review six films from the 1990s to 2000 that released for the first time on Blu-ray.

We start with the animated "Rover Dangerfield," (1991) where Rodney Dangerfield's hallmark humor is impeccably tailored to tickle the funny bones of both kids and adults alike.  Next we review the first film released by MTV Films, "Joe's Apartment," (1996) starring a young Jerry O'Connell and a host of singing cockroaches. 

From December we start with the excellent, "Saving Grace" (2000), a Indie darling that should not be forgotten, with standout performances from Brenda Blethyn and Craig Ferguson.  We then review the romp "A Midwinter's Tale" (1995), directed by Kenneth Branagh.  This mock-u-mentary style film is a delightful look behind-the-scenes of indie Shakespearean theater.

We wrap up our reviews with two films released in November.  First is the historical drama "Rapa-Nui" (1994) from Kevin Costner's Tig Productions and directed by Kevin Reynolds.  Filmed on location on Easter Island, this story of Polynesian history is a visual  and dramatic delight.  And our last film is the historical romance "In Love and War" (1996) starring Sandra Bullock and Chris O'Donnell and directed by Richard Attenborough.  This beautifully shot film is based on the true-life romance of a young Earnest Hemingway and his experiences in Italy during World War I.

We provide a review of each film,  the restoration, and all of the extras to help you decide if you want to add it to your physical media collection.

Purchase links:
ROVER DANGERFIELD (1991)  Blu-ray
JOE'S APARTMENT (1996) Blu-ray
SAVING GRACE (2000) Blu-ray
A MIDWINTER’S TALE (1995) Blu-ray
RAPA-NUI (1994) Blu-ray
IN LOVE AND WAR (1996) Blu-ray

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:12

Hello and welcome to the extras, where we take you behind the scenes of your favorite TV shows, movies and animation and their release on digital DVD, blue Rain 4K or your favorite streaming site. I'm Tim Lard, your host, and joining me is George Feltonstein to review some recent. Hi George, how are you? Let me redo that one. Okay, and joining me is George Feltonstein to review some recent film releases from the Warner Archive. Hi George.

Speaker 2: 0:41

Hi Tim, how are you?

Speaker 1: 0:43

Good, good. Well, I know that we've been doing reviews and it's been a packed few months with the end of the last year and new year, but we had a few from November, december and then releasing here just recently in January that we didn't get to review, and so today we're going to kind of get caught up, so to speak. That way we're ready for all of the huge amount of releases you have planned for February and March and into the rest of the year. So I thought we would start first off with this animated film, rover Danger Field, which is the only animated film we'll be talking about today, but I really enjoyed it. I didn't know much about this one because it had all the trademark Rodney Danger Field humor. Now it's toned down and it was more family friendly than I had originally expected. But I guess that probably makes it more of a film that you can watch with your kids or grandkids, and the adults know the Danger Field humor, but the kids can just enjoy the story.

Speaker 2: 1:57

Oh, absolutely. It's very interesting the background of this because, from what I understand, the original concept that Rodney Danger Field had for this film was to be more along the lines of caddy shack style humor, meaning R rated and the studio didn't want to go in that direction because there was, as there still is, this prejudice oh it's animated, it's for kids. I think that was in the early 90s. We have a little bit of a different sensibility now, thanks to South Park and Family Guy and other things.

Speaker 1: 2:39

The Simpsons.

Speaker 2: 2:40

But that's what they wanted a family product and the animation studio that produced this, hyperion Studios. They had done an independent animated feature that was very, very highly regarded, called the Brave Little Toaster. So the people who were responsible for that were people responsible for collaborating with Rodney on this film and for people who like Rodney Danger Field and the other things about the film that are very charming and funny. This film is another one of those pictures that didn't create a thunderstorm at the box office, but subsequent availability on videocassette in the 90s and people watching it on HBO in the 90s. There are people who are now in their 40s and 50s, who grew up watching this movie, who want to share with their kids. It's similar to what we felt with Cat Stone Dance, so we want to make these things available, and now here it is on Blu-ray and it looks and sounds terrific and a lot of people still are big Rodney Danger Field fans.

Speaker 1: 3:55

Yeah, and I think there's of course, a whole resurgence of interest in the 80s and 90s and music and film from that era. And of course that's his time when he was in back to school and just so many catashack and all these great movies, and so it's great to see him being enjoyed by people today. And I think that this you're right it doesn't have that edginess of some of the newer stuff, but that kind of came after this film came out and so it's a product of its time and the animation was more family oriented at that point. So it was just really enjoyable and then the whole package that you have, together with all of the extras, really makes this a great Blu-ray.

Speaker 2: 4:45

Well, I'm very happy with how it turned out, and being able to add to Looney Tunes is always a good thing.

Speaker 1: 4:53

Right, and you have because you have here. For those who'd like to know what the cartoons are specifically, you've got Dog Days, Hollywood Canine, Canteen, Chow Hound and Dog Collard plus the trailers.

Speaker 2: 5:07

There's a lot, because only two of those are on the disc.

Speaker 1: 5:13

Oh, do we need to.

Speaker 2: 5:14

I had to pull Chow Hound and Hollywood Canine Canteen.

Speaker 1: 5:18

Oh, okay, okay.

Speaker 2: 5:20

Because they had disclaimers on them.

Speaker 1: 5:22

That's right.

Speaker 2: 5:23

And for a classic animation set. That's okay. But as I thought about it I was like, hmm, this could get us into trouble, let's not do this.

Speaker 1: 5:33

Okay, I was reading I very quickly removed them. Right, I have an old write up here, the original one, I guess. Let me redo that one Incomprehensible. And then you have a. And then you have a couple of terrific Warren Brothers cartoons on here and the theatrical trailer. So that's a great, just a kind of a great package for people who want to collect, and continued collect, all of the animation from the 80s and 90s that you've been releasing.

Speaker 2: 6:06

Well, I'm really happy about that. It's always a nice touch, and those are two Cartoons that dog lovers will appreciate. So right, it seemed like a really good fit.

Speaker 1: 6:18

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So this was really delightful, so I really enjoyed that. Well, that came out on January 30th and the other, the next film we're gonna talk about, came out the same day and that's also from 1990s. This is from 1996 and that's Joe's apartment and that is the first film. Is that right of that? Mtv films released.

Speaker 2: 6:44

Yes, it is it?

Speaker 1: 6:47

you know I had been a long time since I'd seen that film and it's just bonkers. I mean it's really crazy, with the cockroaches and the, just the whole 90s style, the music, the rock posters on his bedroom being in a band, you know and he's moving to New York. It's really a riot and a lot of fun.

Speaker 2: 7:12

Well, I think it's a lot of fun too. I've always liked it. It's very dark humor, yeah, and it was perfect for the time period and representative of MTV exploring their role in making films. It would be, I guess, seven or eight years later, maybe more, I'm not sure exactly the time. But you know the jackass movies. They really started to Kick it in terms of what they were doing, in terms of what they were bringing to the theatrical experience. But this was their first one and it was based on the short film made by the same filmmaker and we don't have rights to that short film, but we obviously rights to this feature. And what I really love about it is it bursts genres. It's a comedy. It kind of has a fantasy Twisted sensibility to it and then even has a musical sensibility to it. Right, it's really cool. And it's also a picture of New York Almost 30 years ago.

Speaker 1: 8:26

Right, yeah, yeah, I noticed that too and it's just got, you know, with the cockroaches in there it has, I don't know, they they all have character, obviously, and they have voices and they have their own personalities, but it's, it's, it's just one of those that the later it is at night that you watch it, I think the funnier it is, and it's, I'm sure you know, obviously a cult classic because of that. So it looks great in this new restoration and then it has a nice amount of extras that you've put on here.

Speaker 2: 9:00

Well, in in picking some cartoons to go with this, I had to, you know, not match time, which is something we usually try to do, and there are some cartoons from the late 90s on there, but the, the cartoon the lady in red is all about cockroaches right.

Speaker 2: 9:23

So that's why we put that on there and I got a kick out of that. It's a little bit of an in-joke, but we were very happy with that. And the restoration of this wonderful you know, cult film Is really important because we have gotten a lot of requests for this movie and and it has it's another one of those films that wasn't a box office blockbuster but built up a cult, cult following after years of being on TV and home video. So they get a pristine prop. Presentation is the goal and it's been very well received. The fans are really happy and that's what we aim for.

Speaker 1: 10:08

And I think it's really fun. I mean, so many people want to pitch and hold the Warner archive right into Classics only, but I love it when you have the opportunity to release these kind of cult, more modern cult films and it's under the same banner and it this is a great example of that, and there's a huge audience for a blu-ray of this film and and and the Restoration and the packages that you put together there at the Warner archive. You know, it's not just it's not just putting the movie out, you, you get the extras on there, so that it's a nice package for everybody. So so this one, I think, is highly recommended.

Speaker 2: 10:49

It's also a film with a really, really good Music of the era right, it's like the grunge era of music, so it's. It was very, also very, very gratifying that we got a lot of notes via Facebook and so forth about how grateful people were then that they were gonna buy this, and we also Were able to add some of the cartoons that Chuck Jones did when he came back to the studio, which meant a lot to me Because that was a triumphant return and you know he was Treated with such appropriate reverence by the Madsman at Warner Brothers, who were so grateful for what he had created in his earlier years, so the studio basically gave him carte blanche to make whatever cartoons he might want to make, and so you've got from here to eternity and superior duck, and they're good. I.

Speaker 1: 11:58

And it's great to see a young Jerry O'Connell in this film. Oh, yeah, yeah, because he's terrific at it and I was just thinking. Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't he play the grown-up in Young Sheldon?

Speaker 2: 12:16

Yeah, he plays Georgie.

Speaker 1: 12:18

Yeah, he plays.

Speaker 2: 12:19

Georgie.

Speaker 1: 12:20

He played it in the Big Bang Theory first.

Speaker 2: 12:23

Yes, that's where you saw it.

Speaker 1: 12:25

Yeah, and I got to meet him when we were doing an extra on that episode and he was having such a great time. It was really fun to see him.

Speaker 2: 12:38

After you know obviously a huge star and everybody thinks of him as the little boy in Standby Me.

Speaker 1: 12:44

Exactly.

Speaker 2: 12:45

Yeah, a lot of time has passed since then.

Speaker 1: 12:47

Yeah, yeah. So there's a link to the Big Bang Theory and then Young Sheldon to that character. I had to just bring that up out of left field here.

Speaker 2: 12:56

but it's a good field. They shoot right across the walkway from my office.

Speaker 1: 13:05

Right, right. And I know you and I are huge fans of both those shows.

Speaker 2: 13:09

Yes, we are Well.

Speaker 1: 13:11

Next up, we have a couple of films that released in December and I thought we could talk about Saving Grace first and that's from 2000. So I think that is the most recent film of the ones that we're talking about. But I don't remember seeing this in the theaters. But in watching it I thought this is a really sweet, really funny film with two terrific performances by Craig Ferguson and Brenda Lethyn. Is that how you pronounce her name? Yes, yeah, she's terrific.

Speaker 2: 13:48

She is terrific. I mean she is. I don't want to say that she is the movie, because everybody in the movie is terrific.

Speaker 1: 13:57

Right.

Speaker 2: 13:58

But this was a particular point in time where people were really noticing her, and Craig Ferguson at that time was a regular on the Drew Carey show.

Speaker 1: 14:10

Right, which I used to watch all the time, so I loved him.

Speaker 2: 14:14

Yeah, he was terrific. And for an art film, because this went out through New Line's Fine Line Films Division. This performed well. This is one of those art films that was actually profitable and globally it was very popular because it had universal themes and you really relate to the characters. And Craig Ferguson didn't just star in the movie, he co-wrote it. So I think this was probably a passion project of some sort, but it's just a testament to everybody involved in the film. It is delightful.

Speaker 1: 14:58

Yeah, and I don't think of Craig as a writer so much, but in seeing that I thought that was terrific and he's obviously very talented.

Speaker 2: 15:08

I mean he has his own, without question, and when he took over the late show, he took it over from Craig Kilbourne, I think, and he really established himself away from just what you knew on the Drew Carey show, or if you were lucky enough to see this movie, which I did see in the theater and I liked it very, very much.

Speaker 1: 15:35

I think that writing experience or his ability to write really helps when you do the late show obviously.

Speaker 2: 15:41

Without question. Yeah, he kind of elevated it. And then, of course, when I'm seeing his face in my mind, James Corden. When James Corden took over the show, he elevated that show a whole other level, but he couldn't have it without the groundwork that Craig Ferguson had set. So this film is. I would urge anybody blindly to take a chance on this movie and that they'll be very pleased with it, because it is really heartwarming, life-affirming, funny, charming and real. The characters are very real.

Speaker 1: 16:23

Yes, yes, and it's been nominated or won numerous awards from that era and so it also has that stamp of you know, respectability to it. But it's just a delight, it's just fun. You're smiling you know most of the film. You're smiling because it just got that light-touch humor and the plot, of course, and the twists are really fun as well, and we won't get away anything there. But yeah, I just thought it was really really fun to watch and then the transfer looks terrific.

Speaker 2: 17:05

This is another case where we'll be able to put a new coat of paint on a work and really make it look lovely, and I was very, very happy about that, and I can't believe it's been 24 years since the movie came out.

Speaker 1: 17:22

Yeah, and we're talking about a movie that released in 2000. Right, that seems like it was just yesterday, but at 24 years old it obviously is. You know it's getting there now. You also have a couple audio commentaries which I thought were, you know, made for a lot of terrific extras on here.

Speaker 2: 17:42

Well, it gives you a perspective from the performers as well as the writers.

Speaker 1: 17:46

Right.

Speaker 2: 17:47

And we're very fortunate to be able to add that to the desk and it's something we're very, very proud of and it's been well received by the fans. It is sold nicely and that's always what we like. So hopefully we can continue to. As we keep our focus on the classics, we can still also keep our focus on the rare and hard to find, which is part of our mission statement, and this is one of those films that sort of drifted into being forgotten after having been modestly successful in its initial release, right, so we're very grateful for that, yep.

Speaker 1: 18:33

Well, the other December release happens to come out of England as well and that's the I guess the name here in the US a midwinter's tale of 1995. I mean this is delightful. I was at the Espion in high school. Anybody who's ever acted or tried to act or supported local theater or big theater, I mean it's a terrific view, in kind of behind the scenes A romp would be maybe a good word for it because it goes all over the place and the characters are so unique and fun and I just thought it was a lot of fun.

Speaker 2: 19:15

It is a lot of fun and it really is a film not very many people know about and they need to know about it because it's so good and in a way it's kind of like the British version of the kind of films that Christopher Guest was making. It's a fake docu and if you love the theater and you're part of the theater, it's very, very inside. But this really happened around right before he released his Hamlet, which was kind of like his big. He had directed it, he had done Henry V in 1989 and that really put him on the map. But he was really kind of a wonder kind in the mid 90s and before his 70 million year, hamlet came out a year before a castle rock brought a midwinter's tail to the US. The real title of the film in the UK was in the Bleak Midwinter.

Speaker 1: 20:29

Right.

Speaker 2: 20:30

And what's interesting is we planned this remaster. We were working on this remaster. We had announced the Blu-ray was coming and we found out about two weeks before the Blu-ray hit the street that there was a screening of the film in the UK with all the original cast members and Kenneth Branagh doing a Q and A after the screening. And I think they did get a DCP for the screening from the new master we made. But we actually had to send over a Blu-ray disc as a backup in case the DCP didn't make it in time. But accordingly, that night apparently was one that was not recorded and many people didn't know about it and I saw so much written about how great an evening it was and how much people love the film and they loved our new master, which made me very happy.

Speaker 2: 21:39

And there's just so much affection for the film and I'm hoping that it gets better known, because anybody who's involved in the theater and if you're a Shakespearean fan or really immersed in Shakespearean knowledge about it, his work which I'm really not, but I know so many people who are so many of my friends from college were, you know, shakespearean actors. They the humor to them is twice as impactful. But it's really a terrific movie and we put it out on DVD when Warner Archives started because it hadn't even had a DVD release, for you know 10, 12 years that DVD was around before Warner Archives started, so it was that specialized. But again, we don't wanna leave behind these smaller films that may get overlooked and to give us a brand new master to make it look wonderful and present it well. That was a real joy and I know a lot of people have been very happy with the release. So it's very good.

Speaker 1: 22:59

That's terrific. It's too bad somebody didn't get a chance to kind of record that, of course, but it just shows kind of the love for working on the project. You know that everybody would come back together and do something like that, and I don't know if they did, I don't know if they did much ad-libbing, but that's the style that they portray right.

Speaker 2: 23:22

Oh yeah, it had a lot of improv, it had a lot of. It's very much similar to movies like Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show, that you know, guest films which I love, mighty Wind. This is to Shakespeare what those films are, to their related subjects, and it's just tremendous.

Speaker 1: 23:44

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it, and anybody who's a fan of you know all those areas that you just mentioned Shakespeare, kenneth Branagh and, of course, even Joan Collins is in here.

Speaker 1: 23:55

She plays the music yeah, you get Jennifer Saunders and Joan Collins, yeah yeah, it's quite the lineup and you get to see them all in a little bit different ways, so it's a lot of fun. So, yeah, I know there's gotta be a huge audience out there for this, that they just need to know, hey, there's a new blue ray out, so they can really appreciate it Absolutely, because it just doesn't get talked about these kinds of films sometimes. Well, to wrap this up, we have a couple more films from November, going all the way back, that we just didn't get to. And they are, you know, they have their own fan bases as well their own small little fan, let me redo that and they each have their kind of cult status and fan base as well. And I thought the first one we could talk about is Rapa Nui from 1994. And it was directed by Kevin Reynolds and I really just enjoyed this film. It has fine acting and action, it has beautiful visuals and the story is really quite interesting.

Speaker 2: 25:01

Well, and it was also filmed on location and it's a gorgeous film to look at.

Speaker 1: 25:09

Yes.

Speaker 2: 25:09

And this was very much a passion project. You know we've been talking about a lot of those Right, but the whole issue of Easter Island and those people and their culture is really dealt with as honestly as possible. And Kevin Costner's production company, tig Productions they were behind this movie and Kevin Costner and Kevin Reynolds had worked together obviously before and I don't think this movie could have gotten made without Kevin Costner's involvement. And the year after they collaborated on Waterworld, which was a whole other kind of movie.

Speaker 1: 26:02

Right.

Speaker 2: 26:02

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 26:05

And the acting in here, jason Scott Lee. He was coming off of Dragon, the Bruce Lee story, I believe, and he's well. He looks the part, obviously, and he does a terrific job in it. Then you have, is it Isai Morales? He played in La Bamba.

Speaker 2: 26:27

Right.

Speaker 1: 26:28

Is it a he or she? He, he played in La Bamba and then they love the same woman, sandra Holt, and it's got the rivalry. It's got, like I said before, the action to it, which I really enjoyed and it keeps the pace of the film really going. So, and then the historical context that it has really is quite interesting.

Speaker 2: 26:53

Yeah, this is another film that we were getting you know people on the forums and whatnot. Where are you going to release Rapa Nui? Yeah?

Speaker 1: 27:02

you know, right yeah it looks.

Speaker 2: 27:04

There's an audience out there that's passionate about different things. We want to try to be able to reach all those audiences.

Speaker 1: 27:14

Right, yeah, exactly. And then the last last film here that I thought we could talk about is also from November, and that's the romance in Love and War, and that was from 1996. And it stars two 1990s actors at the peak of their popularity, that's for sure. Chris Sodano had just played Robin in Batman forever, the year before and the year after he was in Batman, and Robin and Sandra Bullock had just come off of doing the film Speed, year Two before that and then, while you were sleeping. So they were just at the peak of their of their popularity in 96 when they came together to do this film. And it doesn't quite match the level of maybe of some of those in terms of the popularity, but I think for fans of romantic films this has got a lot of merits and it's fun to see these two stars together.

Speaker 2: 28:16

Yeah, sandra Bullock's following is very significant and she's made so many great movies there was this is another film that we got a lot of requests for, but it's also directed by Richard Attenborough, who has had quite an impressive resume both as an actor and a director, and, given that it's about Ernest Hemingway and his youth, there's that angle as well. So it seemed like a perfect choice to add to the palette, as we try to bring films of the recent past as well as the distant past. And it looks marvelous. It's a beautiful dish.

Speaker 1: 29:03

Yeah, and I guess the point I was trying to get at is there's you know, you're going to get Batman Forever and Batman and Robin released and you're going to get speed released and while you are sleeping, and it's great that the Warner archive can take the smaller film like this so that fans of these actors and of the genre and Richard Attenborough, you know, can get their collections, can add this to their collection and see it in Blu-ray, because the new master looks very good and I mean it's a beautifully shot film.

Speaker 2: 29:37

We were delighted with how well it turned out because it was beautifully photographed. The new master really shows how much care went into the imagery and Taking you back almost a hundred years, you know, yeah, to World War one, and Also really the poignant Feelings between the two characters, and that's based on Hemingway's memoirs. So it's, I would say, partially nonfiction, if you will right, but it's, it's. It's certainly a fine, fine film and we were delighted to be able to release it.

Speaker 1: 30:19

Well, there's six films that we just never got around to talking about, but they all have, you know, their fans and it's great that the Warner archive is able to bring them out on Blu-ray, and it's great that you and I could talk about it so that those people who are not as aware of these films can, you know, get a little context and a little understanding, and hopefully we've recommended and talked about them in a way that will interest people.

Speaker 2: 30:45

Absolutely, and when we next get together, we'll be talking about the films that will be coming out at the end of March.

Speaker 1: 30:55

And those will be the Classic films or more recent, or a combination.

Speaker 2: 31:02

Combination oh, that's terrific surprises in there, for people, for sure, and a lot of strongly requested films Okay, among all of them, but there'll be some big surprises, I think, for people.

Speaker 1: 31:18

Well, as I've mentioned before on previous podcasts, I think it's terrific that your range of films are going from the 20s to the 2000s. I mean, that's it's a it's a terrific thing and what the Warner archive and what the Warner archive is releasing so that, as you say, all of these different groups of fans out there can receive the best quality transfer and these terrific packages that you put together. So Thanks again, George for coming on the podcast.

Speaker 2: 31:50

Oh, it's my pleasure and I look forward to our next get together. I think it's gonna be very exciting.

Speaker 1: 31:57

Thanks church.

Speaker 2: 31:58

All right, thank you, tim you.