Dan's Discs/Past Ebert 3/19/13--BADLANDS

Tuesdays mean one thing at North/South:

New Blu-Rays!

There are a bunch of 2012 films hitting shelves today.

Most notably: THE HOBBIT, ZERO DARK THIRTY and LES MISERABLES.

I missed THE HOBBIT and was def. underwhelmed by the other two.

So this week, we only have one, must-buy disc to talk about:

I first read about BADLANDS in Roger Ebert's book, 'The Great Movies'.

This column will also serve as another edition of Past Ebert.

His beautiful essay appears, here.

I had never seen a Terrence Malick film, and I figured this was a good place to start.

I was right.

I bought a VHS copy of BADLANDS on Ebay for like $2.50.

When you watch this film, you get why people revere Malick.

He takes a super complex story and makes it so simple: 

Girl falls in love with boy, boy is a psycho killer.

We never get sanctimonious judgments about what is taking place, but instead we simply observe.

It's a chilling film with a great score (TRUE ROMANCE re-used the theme, Carl Orff's 'Schulwerk').

It's shot beautifully, especially in the wide open spaces of South Dakota.

It was preserved by the Library of Congress and is a must-watch piece of film history.

The Criterion Collection Blu-Ray will really give you the whole, Malick experience.

Better than Pan and Scan VHS will anyway . . .

UPDATE: Criterion Put the First Four Minutes on Youtube! So Dope!

You gotta use the link here.