Alcatraz—Complete Series
(Warners)
This offbeat hybrid of detective and
supernatural series, which never had a chance to survive—seeing the first
season, it’s probably for the best—follows a group of “detectives” hunting down
criminals who disappeared at Alcatraz back in 1963 (its closing was a cover
story) and are reappearing in present-day San Francisco, committing crimes
decades later. Sound confusing? Join the club. A general stylishness and a cast
headed by Sam Neill help, but the show couldn’t escape its own inconsistencies.
The hi-def image shimmers on Blu; extras include deleted scenes and a making-of
featurette.
(Image)
Renegade documentary filmmaker
Mads Brugger poses as a racist European colonial who wants to make a bundle of
money in Africa, and through hidden cameras, provides proof that the black
market and corrupt politicians are alive and well. Brugger, shooting fish in a
barrel, is too pleased with his own prankster duplicity to make any truly pertinent
points, unfortunately. Brugger’s commentary is entertaining but also lacks insights.
The movie looks quite good in hi-def.
Blade Runner—30th
Anniversary Edition
(Warners)
Ridley Scott’s 1982 dark drama about
“replicants” and the bounty hunter tracking them down has become, after an
initial bumpy ride, one of the seminal sci-fi films. This 30th
anniversary Blu-ray set, is essentially a re-do of the film’s 25th
anniversary Blu-ray set, has made improvements: the upgrade makes the film’s
stunning images even more stunning. The myriad versions are still present—the
original version and international cut, the 1991 directors’ cut, the workprint version,
and Scott’s preferred 2007 final cut—and there’s also Scott’s commentary, a
crew commentary, and the documentary Dangerous
Days.
(Kino/Redemption)
These steamy Jess Franco horror flicks
are typical of his work: both 1973’s Exorcism
and 1975’s Female Vampire provide
ample opportunities for Franco’s gorgeous and buxom companion Lina Romay to
show off her assets in the name of terrorizing audiences, but the silly stories
mitigate any real eroticism. The Blu-ray images of both films, while far from
perfect, are the best representations of these films so far on home video;
extras include shorter, blander re-edits of both films, a retrospective
documentary and tribute to Romay, who died earlier this year.
(Anchor Bay)
This new series, set in a Miami
hotel in 1959, is another TV nostalgic trip riding the coattails of Mad Men. That it’s on Starz lets it get
away with nudity and language still not allowed on other networks. There’s dramatic
intrigue aplenty in these eight episodes as the mob wants its claws in the
hotel, along with Frank Sinatra, the Kennedy clan, and clusters of comely women.
This stylish soap has the period sets and costumes down pat—but the characters lack
depth. The Blu-ray image looks fine; the extras are featurettes.
(Warners)
In Steven Soderbergh’s latest
on-the-fly character study, that some of the hottest guys in movies (re: my
wife), like Channing Tatum and Matthew McConaughey, play strippers overshadows
the fact that this is Soderbergh’s third enjoyable movie in a row (after Contagion and Haywire), a sympathetic, non-condescending look at how regular
folks make ends meet during economic troubles. That Olivia Munn shows her bare
breasts is a very fair trade-off for my having to endure the female-scream
inducing dance moves. The hi-def image is first-rate; extras are extended dance
sequences and a making-of featurette.
(Sony)
Director Jonathan Demme
accompanied Neil Young to his old haunts in and around Toronto and filmed him at
a solo show in grand old Massey Hall. There are unguarded moments of Neil
driving through his old neighborhoods, but most of the film rightly takes place
onstage, where Young delivers incendiary versions of tunes both new and old. Classics
like “After the Gold Rush” and “Ohio”—where the only explicitly political propaganda
is inserted by Demme as he shows photos of the college students killed at Kent
State by the National Guard—are front and center. The Blu-ray image is very good;
extras include two Demme and Young interviews and a making-of featurette.
(Eagle Vision)
Peter Gabriel’s So turned a cult artist into a superstar
in 1986 with hits “Sledgehammer” and “Big Time” (“In Your Eyes” became a smash later
in the movie Say Anything). In this fascinating
look at So’s creation, Gabriel,
co-producer Daniel Lanois, engineer Kevin Killen and musicians Tony Levin, Jerery
Marotta and Manu Kache discuss the recording of Gabriel’s seminal record. I’m still
unconvinced “In Your Eyes” should be the last song, because it upsets the familiar
balance, but if Gabriel wants it there, who am I to argue? The 60-minute program
is reinforced by 35 minutes of additional interviews.
(Criterion)
Director John Schlesinger and
screenwriter Penelope Gilliat’s account of a bi-sexual triangle was
groundbreaking in its onscreen depiction of homosexual lovers back in 1971. But
it seems tame today, a snapshot of an era when being gay was swept under the
rug. If Schlesinger and Gilliatt do little more than update romantic movies
with a twist, the splendid trio of Glenda Jackson, Murray Head and Peter Finch is
the main reason to watch. The Blu-ray gives an accurate representation of talented
cinematographer Billy Williams’ intention; extras include interviews with
Williams, Head, Schlesinger’s lover Michael Childers and biographer William J.
Mann.
DL Hughley—Reset
(Image)
For this latest standup appearance,
D.L. Hughley performs in New Jersey for an hilarious hour of uproarious
observations and stinging wit. Although the ear-opening section of Hughley’s hour-long
routine centers on his autistic son—whom the doting father has no compunctions
about mocking, albeit lovingly—he also takes on other, less incendiary topics, all
to his audience’s fall-out-of-their-chairs amusement.
(e
one)
Picking up 10 years after the
original John Grisham novel (and Sydney Pollack film) left off, this 22-episode
series follows lawyer Mitch McDeere leaving the witness protection program with
his wife and daughter and trying to start a new life—and law career. There are
twisty turns galore, and the characterizations are fairly complex for once; the
actors, including Josh Lucas and Molly Parker as Mitch and his wife, are up to
the task. Extras include interviews and featurettes.
(PBS)
This thorough four-disc set
comprises 24 programs that show off our best depositories of art, history and
culture: along with obvious choices like MOMA and the Metropolitan Museum of
Art, there’s a good mix of regional museums like the Delta Blues Museum and California
Surf Museum and national museums like the National D-Day Museum and American
Indian Museum. The 30-to-60 minute programs provide informative overviews of
such uniquely American museums as Cooperstown’s Baseball Hall of Fame or New
York’s Ellis Island Immigration Museum.
(Sony Classical)
The immensely charming 1995 film
with Philippe Noiret and Massimo Troisi—about an ordinary postman who befriends
Chilean poet Pablo Neruda while falling in love with a beautiful waitress—has been
transformed into a lovely opera by composer Daniel Catan. Placido Domingo
(Neruda), Charles Castronovo (postman) and Amanda Squitieri (waitress) are
wonderfully affecting both vocally and histrionically, which makes the story so
personal and profound. In an awful parallel, Troisi died right after the film finished
shooting and Catan died just months after his opera premiered in Los Angeles.
(Docurama)
This powerful documentary by
Kirby Dick—who also made This Film Is Not
Yet Rated—shockingly recounts our military’s worst secret: that female
soldiers have a better chance of being raped or sexually abused by fellow
soldiers than they do of being wounded or killed on the battlefield. Several
courageous women step forward to discuss what happened to them and how their
bosses stonewalled their complaints (in at least one instance, because he was
involved). It’s a sadly enlightening commentary on a male-centric world. Extras
include a commentary, extended interviews and a deleted scene.
(Acorn)
This British made-for-TV drama series,
originally telecast in 1988-9, tells the gripping true story of English women
who were Allied secret agents while France was occupied by the Nazis. These 6
discs include 23 hour-long episodes from all 3 seasons, beginning with the fall
of France and leading up to D-Day, as the London home office gives the female spies
orders for dangerous missions to keep the Germans occupied. A superlative cast
is led by Jane Asher (who is best known to Beatles fans as Paul McCartney’s
pre-Linda fiancée) as the embattled chief of the home office.
Salonen: Nyx/Violin Concerto
(Decca)
Soloist Leila Josefowicz sizzles
on Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Violin Concerto, a technically formidable work in which she
plays almost constantly, easily dispatching its many runs and bringing intensity
to a less than impassioned piece. The disc is rounded out by Nyx, an interesting if disjointed workout
for the musicians of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, led persuasively by
the composer himself.
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