DVD Talk Forum - Last DVD you watched?

A couple of weeks' worth of stuff:

Yasujiro Ozu's BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF THE TODA FAMILY (1941): A dress rehearsal (tryout?) for the ideas/premise that Ozu would bring back with a vengeance in "Tokyo Story." By Ozu's standards the tongue-lashing that Shojiro (Shin Saburi) gives his siblings after he confronts them with their treatment of their mother/sister must rank as one of the filmmaker's most overtly intense on-screen scenes.
Masaki Kobayashi's THE HUMAN CONDITION (1959-61): watched all 9 hours and 47 mins. of the trilogy back-to-back (12PM 'till 10:55PM at night with five 10 min. breaks). It's not perfect but the good outweighs the bad because Kobayashi's vision is matched by his growing (and visible) confidence and skill behind the camera. The 2nd and 3rd movies grow repetitive but Tatsuya Nakadai's lead performance gets better with every scene; supporting performances peak on the first film (which is good because Nakadai is at his weakest in the start) but all three 190+ min. third add up to a collective experience that is nothing short of epic. Loved it!
Jean-Pierre Melville's L'aîné des Ferchaux (AKA Magnet of Doom, 1963): had to import a Region 4 DVD w/o English subtitles and then read-along the English dialogue from a translated transcript I downloaded/printed from the internet. All the elements you expect from Melville are present (Belmondo and Vanel delivering good performances, nihilistic atmosphere, a money score fueling the narrative, etc.) but "L'aîné des Ferchaux" just doesn't come together like "Le Doulos," "Bob Le Flambeur" or the better Melville flicks. A curio for Melville fanatics only.
Chantal Akerman's JEANNE DIELMAN, 23 QUAI DU COMMERCE, 1080 BRUXELLES (1975): a triumph of turning the discarded moments from most narrative films into a cinematic world of its own. The movie's title isn't just the location in which 90% of the "story" takes place. It's the whole of the lead character's life since her previous routine (hinted at in infrequent, cold conversations) went away, the only thing in her life she can lean on. Akerman asks a lot of her audience, some of whom may not be physically/emotionally ready for this type of movie. Those with the patience and tenacity to stick through it will be deeply rewarded with a movie that's both traditional and completely avant-garde. Master-freaking-piece!
AUTOUR DE JEANNE DIELMAN (1975/2004): A 60+ min. bonus feature on the "Jeanne Dielman" Criterion set, this is an above-average (shot on videotape) and somewhat intimate peek at an unusual production. Don't recall seeing a film crew that was mostly female before, or an actor-director so close and yet so far apart in the vision thing during filming. Riveting stuff.
GALAXINA (1980): William Sachs and Stephen Macht commentary on because, frankly, I had 90 minutes to kill, didn't feel like watching something 'heavy' and wanted to test for HD-DVD laptop's HDMI compatibility with my HDTV. It worked, I watched, I forgot.
A ROOM WITH A VIEW (1985): my Spanish-speaking mother is reading E.M. Forster's novel for her English classes (she's learning at 62!) so I rewatched it with the commentary track on so we can talk about it on Skype. Mailed the disc to mom the next day so she can watch it on her Toshiba HD-DVD player back in our homeland. Yes, I recycle! :)
MST3K KTMA-05: GAMERA (1988/1965): An odd-even-by-KTMA-standards early “MST3K” episode with a single riffer (Joel) in the theater, which at least proves how needed the bots are for the human host (Joel or Mike) to bounce off from. Jokes are so sparse and infrequent that a hearty laugh from Joel when the scientist mentions Gamera’s “special organs that operate like a hydro-electric plant” (!) qualifies as a highlight. I can only imagine the abuse The Brains unleashed on this flick (and Kenny) when they got a second chance to do it right in MST3K's official season 3 ragging of the same movie. For diehard MiSTie completists only.
MST3K #820: SPACE MUTINY (1997/1988): an unending lithany of dead-on riffs and bullseye-hitting jokes that get funnier and loonier along with the flick. Recycled "Battlestar Galactica" 70's footage + washed-up has-beens (Cameron Mitchell, Reb Brown, John Phillip Law, etc.) + talentless hack director/crew (which keep a killed-on-screen character alive through inept editing) + dated no-budget 80's production values ('graphics by Kenner') + Mike and the Bots at the top of their game = an "MST3K" classic.
MST3K #1009: HAMLET (1999/1961): the high from "Space Mutiny" kept me wide awake through "Hamlet" and I enjoyed being able to get through the whole thing in one sitting, which I found out makes a world of difference. New jokes that I didn't notice or cared for before (like the 'Finnish SCUD missile' sound effects) this time had me rolling on the couch. Guess all I needed to enjoy "Hamlet" all along was the carry-over, G-force pull of a top-notch "MST3K" classic as a lead-in.
SAHARA (2005): rewatched it with director Breck Eisner and McConaughey talking (commentary). I can glean from it that "Sahara" is one of those movies that was more fun for the filmmakers to work on than it was for audiences to watch.