Act of Valor
(Fox)
Made not only with the Navy Seals’ blessing but with several
of its members in starring roles, this story of terrorists being tracked down by
our best and bravest is extremely slow-going, with painfully earnest performances,
cookie-cutter dramatics and dreary dialogue butting heads with explosive action
sequences. The impressive physical production deflects the jingoism, but there
are better ways to honor our brave male and female warriors. The Blu-ray
transfer is flawless; extras include directors’ commentary, deleted scenes, Seals
interviews and several on-set featurettes.
(Summit)
This tidy thriller about a young woman who can’t convince cops
that her sister has gone missing at the hands of a psycho (she supposedly cried
wolf when it previously happened to her) makes effective use of Portland
locations, including the greenery of nearby Forest Park. Director Heitor Dahlia
and writer Allison Burnett rely too much on the Silence of the Lambs formula (young woman overcomes male assailant
and skeptics) but Amanda Seyfried is appropriately spunky in the lead. The
hi-def transfer is excellent.
(Magnolia)
This likably flaky comedy about an unlikely hockey player
stars Seann William Scott, perfectly cast as a huge fan who becomes his beloved
team’s enforcer. Despite Goon’s similarities
to the far superior Slapshot,
director Michael Dowse and writers Jay Baruchel (also in the film) and Evan
Goldberg are canny enough to assemble a super ensemble including Liev Schreiber
as the league’s reigning bad guy, Allison Pill as our goon’s gal and Eugene
Levy and his incredulous dad. The movie looks quite good on Blu-ray; extras
include interviews, on-set antics, and commentary.
and Yosemite: The
High Sierras
(Mill Creek)
These documentaries showcase the geological wonders at two
of our grandest national parks through interviews with experts, discussions of
the parks’ history and significance and, of course, astonishing views of the
amazing vistas that visitors encounter every day. In addition to the two major
parks, other national monuments are also mentioned, giving an overall sense of
the National Park System’s great breadth. The hi-def visuals are breathtaking,
even if they are no substitute for an actual visit to any of these places.
(Disney)
Andrew Stanton’s much-maligned adaptation of Edgar Rice
Burroughs’ fantastic sci-fi novel about a criminal from Earth who becomes a
hero on Mars has its faults—notably an slavish fidelity to the book—but there’s
much to admire. In addition to the fabulous array of sets and inventive Martian
creatures, there’s an appealing performance as the Martian princess Dejah by Lynn
Collins; too bad our John Carter, the aptly named Taylor Kitsch, is as stiff as
a board. On Blu-ray, Stanton’s expansive visuals are spellbinding; extras
include deleted scenes, bloopers, featurettes and Stanton’s commentary.
(Warners/New Line)
In this uninspired Journey
to the Center of the Earth sequel, Dwayne Johnson takes over for Brandon
Fraser, an even trade-off, methinks. Michael Caine shows up midway through and
provides first-class hamming, while Vanessa Hudgens continues to look terrific without
doing much acting. Special effects are the order of the day, from a miniature
elephant to monstrously large lizard eggs—and an even more monstrously large mother
protecting them. It’s decent enough and, at 94 minutes, doesn’t ask much of
your and your kids’ time. The Blu-ray image is excellent but sterile—all that
CGI, obviously. Extras include a gag reel, deleted scenes and an interactive
map.
(Summit)
This ludicrously-plotted thriller uses the title character as
a front for a revenge heist—to give away more would ruin its few diversions. A
game bunch of actors does what it can, although Elizabeth Banks and Sam
Worthington look faintly embarrassed, a slumming Ed Harris is stuck in a
ridiculous role and newcomer Genesis Rodriguez was seemingly cast to fit her
lithe frame into more tight outfits than Catwoman. The movie has a decent
Blu-ray transfer; extras include a featurette and Banks commentary.
(AnimEigo)
Shogun Assassin
and its four “sequels” (the films’ istory is rather complicated) are considered
must-see samurai films, but—at least in the versions on these two Blu-ray discs—they
are far from essential. The first film, truncated from the original Japanese (and
dubbed badly in English), isn’t the classic revenge adventure it could have
been; the subsequent quartet at least has lots of bloodletting. The five films
have a few visual problems in hi-def but are generally fine.
(HD Cinema Classics)
In 1946, Lewis Milestone—who won Oscars early on for Two Arabian Nights and All Quiet on the Western Front—directed
this pitch-black film noir about an heiress whose horrible childhood marks her
adult life and her broken relationships. Colorful acting by Barbara Stanwyck,
Van Heflin and, in his film debut, Kirk Douglas keep the melodrama from
meandering. The classic B&W imagery is clear and crisp on Blu-ray; extras
include a commentary and restoration demo.
L’incoronazione di
Poppea
(Virgin Classics and
Opus Arte)
Italian Claudio Monteverdi composed the very first operas,
and his crowning achievement, first performed in 1642, is this powerful drama
about ancient Rome’s ruthless Poppea, Nero’s mistress. These two productions
show how much ambiguity is contained in the characters: the Virgin Classics
disc, filmed in Madrid in 2010, stars the defiantly alluring American soprano
Danielle deNiese; the Opus Arte disc, from Barcelona in 2009, has the regal Swedish
soprano Miah Persson. Both women navigate the role’s tremendous dramatic
demands, while Monteverdi’s music is well-served by conductors William Christie
in Madrid and Harry Bicket in Barcelona.
(Acorn)
A big hit on the other side of the pond, this amusing police
drama about a group of unorthodox, nearing-retirement detectives isn’t the most
original, but its dryly humorous, poker-faced cast led by Amanda Redman (the
boss), James Bolam, Alun Armstrong and Dennis Waterman (the boys) make these murder
mysteries particularly savory. If you enjoy this set, there are also a
half-dozen previous ones to dive into. Extras include behind the scenes featurette
and blooper reel.
(Warner Bros)
Those horrible high school hotties cause more trouble in this
ABC Family series’ sophomore season. At the end of these 25 episodes, Hanna, Aria,
Spencer and Emily—who are terrorized by “A,” who knows all of their secrets—will
finally discover the identity of this mysterious person. It’s all risible, of
course, but its key demographic will love the show and the gals (played by Ashley
Benson, Lucy Hale, Shay Mitchell and Troian Bellisario). Extras include deleted
scenes and on-set featurettes.
Washington: Behind
Closed Doors
(Acorn)
Coming on the heels of Nixon’s disgrace and resignation from
Watergate, this 1976 mini-series fictionalizes then-current political
machinations—presidential paranoia, anti-war protests, power-hungry minions—and
marries them to a superb cast in this eminently watchable mini-series. A who’s-who
of 1970s TV stars—Jason Robards, Andy Griffith, Cliff Robertson, Stefanie
Powers, Robert Vaughn, Lois Nettleton, John Houseman—make this six-part program’s
nine hours enjoyable; but melodramatic flattening prevents this from being a paranoid
classic like The Parallax View and All the President’s Men.
CD of the Week
French Piano Trios: Trio Chausson
(Mirare)
A fine young French ensemble, Trio Chausson—named after the
eloquent late 19th century French composer—plays with elegance and
precision on this disc of piano trios by other Frenchmen and women. Although Claude
Debussy’s seminal trio is a classically French work (it sits alongside Ravel’s
and Faure’s), it’s a pair of unfamiliar works that Trio Chausson really takes
to: Cecile Chaminade’s beautifully wrought trio and—an even more obscure gem—Rene
Lenormand’s vaguely exotic, thoroughly melodic work.
(Fantasy)
For his latest solo album, Joe Walsh—jokester and guitarist
extraordinaire—keeps those talents on the backburner to concentrate on Joe
Walsh, happy husband and family man. The bland result includes earnestly sappy
tunes (“Lucky That Way” and “Family Way”), the title track with lame lyrics
like “Turn on the tube/watch until dawn/100 channels and nothing on,” and a tongue-in-cheek
nod toward his past in “Funk 50,” which only reminds us how hard-rocking Walsh was
way back when. I didn’t expect a sequel to his underrated 1985 gem, The Confessor, but Analog Man lacks punch.
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