Like most omnibus films, this is uneven, but the It's a Good Life segment is terrific, by and far the greatest thing Joe Dante ever did (for my money). The George Miller segment is also good, as well as the opening sequence. I hope Jerry Goldsmith's excellent soundtrack is the focus of one of the features (if there are any...I'm only guessing this will be a packed release, since this title is very long awaited).
I don't think it's possible for anyone to argue against the third segment (the Dante one) being the best of the lot. Not that there's any real competition but still.
Perhaps an argument with Domino isn't what I wanted today, but I've always felt that the expressionistic and subjective terror of the final sequence with John Lithgow is the best, and one of the scariest things I've ever seen. Lithgow's performance alternates between composure and hysteria, and the tempo of the editing and performances steadily rises until it bursts.
Joe Dante's piece is good, but I'm buying this DVD for Miller's.
As I said, Miller's and (especially) Dante's are very good, just take your pick. The segments by Spielberg and Landis are completely unremarkable, however (although the score for Spielberg's is lovely and nostalgic...but not as great as the music for the Joe Dante and George Miller). By the way, like all of Dante's work, Dick Miller makes a memorable appearence in his segment; the cinematography for Dante's is also impressive, like "cartoon Argento," if that makes any sense (the final shot is also one of the best matte paintings ever).
Yeah I guess I was thinking more of the hilarity of someone thinking either of the first two segments was the best. From what I can remember, I do like the gremlin on a plane episode that closes the movie. Nothing quite as surreal as seeing Kevin MacCarthy eat a peanut butter hamburger but still.
Landis' segment also really scared me as a kid, I think mostly because it's so disorienting. Really, the only part of the movie I don't care for is the grossly sentimental Spielberg segment (although it's hard for me to hate anything with Scatman Crothers) - Dante's story is terrific and Lithgow is amazing in Miller's segment.
Warner Bros. already announced this as a two-disc set, so I'll be interested to see what the features are. The cover art is nice too, I'm assuming it'll be some sort of lenticular thing?
It's a bummer that the HTF chat got me all excited for this being a nice multi-disc set then. I'd love to hear a commentary, but I'm sure Landis and Spielberg probably won't get near it with a 10-foot pole.