Battleship
(Universal)
This unlikely board game
adaptation looks like a stultifying Transformers sequel. The
eponymous ship battles malevolent aliens who morph into various
guises—although lookers like the brilliantly-named Taylor Kitsch,
Brooklyn Decker and Rhianna star, their vapidity is emphasized by
Peter Berg's noisily empty spectacle that's more concerned with
ubiquitous special effects which outdo even stalwart Liam Neeson. The
excessive CGI at least looks more plausible than the stiff actors
thanks to Blu-ray's added clarity; extras comprise featurettes,
interviews and an alternate ending.
Korczak
(Kino Lorber)
Despite Schindler's
List's obvious preeminence
in the world of Holocaust films, three years earlier, in 1990, Polish
master Andrzej Wajda made this simple, stark but equally harrowing
film that's based on a true story about a doctor who bravely went to
his death at Auschwitz with the young “children” surrounding him
from the camp. Wajda's mastery is as devastating as Steven
Spielberg's was throughout this understated black and white classic;
Robby Muller's extraordinary images look brilliant on Blu-ray.
(Disney)
This series takes place
in Storybrooke, Maine, where Snow White and Prince Charming's
daughter put up her young son for adoption, which triggers the plot
mechanicsm. Although this fantasy is quite diverting, it too often
attempts to be hip or stay one step ahead of the audience, but
nowadays, the audience has seen everything, so nothing is surprising.
The show returns to ABC for a second season at the end of September.
The hi-def imagery looks great; extras include audio commentaries,
deleted scenes, featurettes, interviews and bloopers.
(Anchor
Bay)
This thriller-spoof is
one of the most gimmicky movies ever: it's not in 3-D, but 3-DD,
which stands for—what else?—chesty bimbos jiggling befoe the
camera for startling 3-D effects. The rest of the movie comprises
shoddy production values, irredeemably stupid characters and so much
ineptitude that cameos by mugging has-beens Gary Busey, Christopher
Lloyd and David Hasselhoff, or an appearance by “30 Rock” babe
Katrina Bowden, who fires off one of the raunchiest lines ever heard
in a non-porn movie, look good by comparison. The 3-D hi-def image is
decent; extras include a commentary, deleted scenes, featurettes and
Busey's blooper reel.
(Fox)
The outlaw motorcycle
club's ongoing peregrinations and conflicts continue during the drama
series' fourth season. Although it's basically a one-note concept,
the show is blessed with a solid cast—that comprises, among others,
Charlie Hunman, Ron Perlman, Kim Coates and the great Katey
Segal—which makes the characters full-bodied, well-rounded,
plausible people. All of the fourth season's 14 episodes are included
in this set, and the Blu-ray image looks terrific; extras include
extended episodes, featurettes, commentaries.
(Kino
Lorber)
One of the first movie
serials, Louis Feuillade's silent-era Les Vampires is a
seven-hour extravaganza that follows the exploits of a journalist
turned detective and his partner who are tracking down a shadowy
group of criminals. Despite its age, the film (made in 1915-6)
contains terrific action and intimate sequences; and, although that
intertitles are not in the original French might put off purists, it
won't matter to most viewers. Considering it's nearly a century old,
it's amazing how cleaned-up it looks.
(Anchor Bay)
In the second season of
this high-concept dramatic series, the survivors of the deadly
apocalypse which begat zombies (called “walkers”) attempt to not
only survive periodic attacks but also learn to survive alongside one
another, which—as we know—is almost impossible under ordinary
circumstances. The drama is well-acted and filmed, but its
originality factor lessens with each episode—still, for those
unfinicky about such things, it provides considerable entertainment.
All 13 episodes are included, and the hi-def image is excellent;
extras include featurettes; audio commentaries; 6 webisodes; deleted
scenes.
The Barnes Collection
(PBS)
Businessman/philanthropist
Albert Barnes' life and legacy are recounted in this hour-long
program that carefully avoids the mess created by the decision to
relocate his superlative collection from suburban Philadelphia to the
city proper. Although this is an interesting overview of the man who
built an imposing collection of art—including 181 paintings by
Auguste Renoir—one needs to watch The Art of the Steal for a
fair assessment of the thievery that took place by relocating
expressly against Barnes' stated wishes.
(Sony)
Writer-director Lawrence
Kasdan is no stranger to sentimental, multi-character stories, but
what worked well in The Big Chill and partially in Grand
Canyon provides diminishing returns. This story about a doctor's
unhappy wife and her faithful new dog (whom she found—improbably—on
the side of a highway) includes intersecting stories too cutesy to be
plausibly filled out. Despite the best efforts of Diane Keaton, Kevin
Kline, Richard Jenkins, Dianne West, Sam Shepard and the amazing
canine Casey, Kasdan and wife Meg's script can't be elevated above a
soap opera. Extras are featurettes.
(Raro
Video)
From Andy Wahrol's stable
of zonked-out zombies, Joe Dallesandro stolidly plays (with help from
a dubbed Italian voice) an escaped killer who tracks down his
nemesis, only to find him holed up with two very willing young women,
both of whom give our hero a piece of the action. Director Fernando
di Leo, a master of the Bloody Italian Cinema of the 70s, phones in
one of his lesser efforts: the bloodletting is cheesy and the sex
scenes (which are plentiful, including below-the-waist nudity) are
risible in the hands (and other body parts) of his amateurish cast.
(Disney)
The first season of this
Hamptons-set Dallas type soap opera among the rich adroitly
sets up its young heroine's (Emily van Camp) vengeful plan amidst the
usual assortment of stock scheming wives, cheating husbands and
endless double-crossing. The affluent setting, of course, is the
show's real draw, and the performers—including the welcome return
of Madeleine Stowe as the rich bitch antagonist—do their best to
keep things moving. Extras are a commentary, deleted scenes,
bloopers, featurettes and interviews.
(Opera Australia)
Although Richard Strauss'
masterly comic opera—his grandest achievement, what with its
endlessly inventive melodies, wonderfully realized characters and
opera's greatest trio finale—is done fairly well at the Sydney
Opera House in Brian Fitzgerald's production, there's something, a
spark, missing. The orchestra, under Andrew Litton's baton, is fine,
and leading ladies Cheryl Barker, Catherine Carby and Emma Pearson
acquit themselves nicey. But this all-time classic is so-so when it
should be a scintillating staging.
(Warners)
We know who's missing
from this season: the Sheen who shall not be named. Ashton Kutcher
has come in to do a decent job replacing the other guy, even though
the sitcom's entire dynamic between the men has shifted, and not for
the better. Still, the show was already declining, but it's doubtful
that it will improve any time soon, even though Kutcher and his
co-stars, Jon Cryer and Angus T. Jones, are engaging together. The
three discs comprise all 24 episodes; extras include featurettes and
a gag reel.
Montsalvatge, Piano
Music
(Naxos)
Ullmann, Complete
Piano Sonatas
(Steinway & Sons)
Catalan composer Xavier
Montsalvatge died in 2002 at age 90 and Viktor Ullmann died at the
hands of the Nazis in 1944. Despite divergent paths, they each wrote
some of the most compelling and intensely personal piano music of the
20th century, as these discs show. Montsalvatge's
eclecticism is on display in the third disc of Jordi Maso's
exploration of the composer's keyboard music, and he's joined by
Miquel Villalba on choice works like the jazzy Barcelona Blues
and bouncy Three Divertimenti. Jeanne Golan performs Ullmann's
seven piano sonatas with formidable intensity, particularly the final
three, which alternate between terseness and a buoyancy that belies
their being written while he was incarcerated in a concentration
camp.
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