Demoted
(Anchor Bay)
Since the guys behind American
Pie are behind Demoted, it’s no surprise
that the new movie fails to reach that film’s gross-out heights of humor. Not
coincidentally, it also fails to find any cleverness in its work situations as
did Office Space. Do we really need
to see a naked Robert Klein cavorting with strippers? The cast is definitely able,
but the material is just not there, and comedic desperation sets in early and
never leaves. At least there’s a decent hi-def transfer; no extras.
(Sony)
Since Nicolas Cage has pretty much surrendered his career to
bizarre script choices, this sequel actually seems less crazy than it should be.
The pluses of this ludicrously plotted movie are that directors Neveldine/ Taylor
throw caution to the wind and concentrate on superb set pieces that make one
forget—at least momentarily—the lunacy of what’s happening onscreen.
Unfortunately, the ending promises another sequel, which is definitely
unnecessary. The overly digitized action has a less-than-warm look on Blu-ray;
extras include featurettes and interviews.
(Criterion)
One of Charlie Chaplin’s immortal comedies is as humane and
affecting as his other classics The
Circus, Modern Times and City Lights.
The set pieces—the dance of the rolls, the Tramp eating his shoe—are as ingenious
as ever; the only quibble is that Chaplin’s inferior, re-edited 1942 talkie
version is now considered definite. Luckily, The Criterion Collection includes both
versions on this invaluable release, which are quite stupendous-looking on
Blu-ray; extras include Chaplin biographer Jeffrey Vance commentary, interviews
with Vance and historian Kevin Brownlow about restoring the 1925 version; and a
2002 featurette about the film’s importance and legacy.
In Darkness
(Sony)
Director Agnieszka Holland pulls few punches in her
real-life account of WWII Jewish refugees hiding in sewers under the Polish
town of Lvov and a sewer worker keeping them from the Nazis. The film
unflinchingly shows the awful conditions under which these desperate people
survived; laced with bitter humor—especially its depiction of an unsaintly hero
(a marvelous Robert Więckiewicz)—it also allows characters their humanity. The
film is splendidly monochromatic (thanks to Joanta Dylewska’s photography,
Michael Czarcecki’s editing and Erwin Prib’s production design); on Blu-ray,
this brilliantly muted color scheme remains illuminated. Extras include a
Holland interview and discussion between Holland and one of the real-life
survivors.
Lina Wertmuller
Collection: The Seduction of Mimi, Love and Anarchy, All Screwed Up
(Kino
Classics)
It’s hard to believe, but in the mid-‘70s, Italian director
Lina Wertmuller was considered among the world’s great filmmakers, culminating
in her being the first woman nominated for a Best Director Oscar for her 1976
masterpiece, Seven Beauties. Too bad
that brilliant, one-of-a-kind classic isn’t in this set (neither is her intelligent
battle of the sexes comedy, 1975’s Swept
Away…), but these three films give a good overview of this gifted artist’s
singularly feminist point of view. The
Seduction of Mimi (1972) and Love and
Anarchy (1973)—starring her favorite screen couple, the extraordinary versatile
Giancarlo Giannini and Mariangela Melato—are superior, blackly comic dramas; 1974’s
All Screwed Up is much less
interesting but still a worthy comedy. All three movies, despite
less-than-optimal materials, have authentically film-like grain; unfortunately,
no extras.
(Fox)
Gerard Butler’s committed portrayal of Sam Childers, a biker
and criminal who becomes a preacher selflessly helping children in the dangerous
areas of Sudan is reason enough to see Marc Forster’s compelling if preachy
melodrama based on a true story. Accomplished turns by Michelle Monaghan (wife)
and Michael Shannon (friend) back up Butler’s first-rate star turn. On Blu-ray,
the movie looks stunning, particularly the African sequences; extras include a Forster
interview, making-of featurette and video of Chris Cornell’s closing-credits
song, “The Seeker.”
(Lionsgate)
Bill Murray’s film debut, this cornball 1979 comedy was shot
as he was making it big on Saturday Night
Live. Ivan Reitman’s sketchy humor shows throughout the goofy summer camp
story, while Murray does what he can: but even he hadn’t fully formed his
onscreen persona, so the movie is heavy-going even for his biggest fans. The
Blu-ray transfer, while soft, has a decent amount of grain; the lone extra is Reitman
and writer Dan Goldberg’s commentary.
A Game of Shadows
(Warners)
Guy Ritchie’s redundant sequel to his unnecessary—but profitable—reboot
of the British detective franchise consolidates Holmes as a superhero, moving
so far from whom Arthur Conan Doyle created and the rest of us envisioned that
it’s no use getting upset over such a cynical film series this is becoming.
Robert Downey and Jude Law keep their dignity, and it’s fun to see Noomi Rapace
and Rachel McAdams, however ill-used; but Ritchie’s routine action sequences
kill his stars’ momentum. The Blu-ray image is excellent; extras are Downey’s
video commentary and on-set featurettes.
(Unitel Classica)
Leos Janacek’s masterly opera is a weird sci-fi tale about
300-year-old Emilia Marty—one of opera’s great soprano roles, here superbly
enacted and sung by German soprano Angela Denoke—nearing the end of what should
have been immortality. The knotty but affecting music is dramatically played by
the Vienna Philharmonic under Esa-Pekka Salonen’s graceful baton. But Christoph
Marthaler’s 2011 Salzburg staging pointlessly adds to Janacek’s terse libretto,
bloating its taut structure. Still, Denoke, Salonen and Janacek ultimately
triumph. The hi-def transfer gives added visual definition, while surround
sound gives Janacek’s extraordinary music the breathing space it deserves.
Desire
(Strand)
This French soft-core feature has naked bodies and body
parts galore: but when it comes to relationships, the clinical filmmaking is
anything but triumphant. Laurent Bouhnik’s film attempts to explore the active sexuality
of young men and—especially—women, but since he’s a trite psychological
director, there’s lots of nudity and simulated sex but little else. Of course,
the cast is terrifically attractive—particularly leads Déborah Révy and Helene Zimmer —but they don’t get to do much other than shed their clothes and inhibitions:
the characters themselves remain wooden.
(Tribeca)
What might have been a clever slasher movie parody instead is,
in novice director Vincent D’Onofrio’s hands, lumbering and obvious. A rock
band goes to the woods to write new material—we hear their new songs in between
being terrorized by a killer—and that’s about it. At 83 minutes, the movie is barely
credulous, and Sam Bisbee’s songs are derivative and humorless, the opposite of
what’s needed to make this a memorable parody. The young cast seems camera-shy,
and D’Onofrio doesn’t distinguish himself behind the camera. Extras include a
D’Onofrio interview and making-of featurette.
(Film
Movement)
This relentlessly cutesy rom-com-cum-musical is the
brainchild of writer-director-star Julie Donzelli, a capable actress but less
than thrilling filmmaker. She also cast her-then boyfriend, the lumpish actor
Jeremie Elkaim—playing not one but four of the heroine’s boyfriends—and none of
the performers is able to carry off this subtle feat very well, and the film
soon turns leaden instead of whimsical, and fey rather than charming. The bonus short, Luis and Marta Work
Together, made in the United Kingdom, is in Portuguese.
Alfredo Casella:
Orchestral Works
Orchestral Works
(Chandos)
Another unsung 20th century Italian composer (alongside
Lidebrando Pizzetti and Luigi Dellapiccola), Alfredo Casella was a master at
atmospheric, colorful orchestral works, as this superlative disc—wonderfully performed by the BBC Philharmonic under Gianandrea Noseda—shows. The premiere recording
of the solidly tuneful Concerto for Orchestra leads things off, followed by a
piano concerto in all but name, A note
alta, with scintillating soloist Martin Rosoce. Rounding out this
satisfying foray into Casella’s music are two series of Symphonic Fragments from 'La donna serpent,' a Casella opera.
(Virgin Classics)
Jake Heggie’s first opera, which premiered in San Francisco
in 2000, receives an emotional recording by Houston Grand Opera from 2011.
Based on Sister Helen Prejean’s book (adapted by Tim Robbins for his 1995
Oscar-winning film), Heggie’s opera adroitly uses spirituals, gospel numbers
and other American musical genres. With a formidable cast led by Joyce DiDonato
as Prejean and Philip Cutlip as death-row inmate Joseph De Rocher, the tragic work—ably
conducted by Patrick Summers—makes its case as a top American opera of the
past 20 years.
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