April '16 Digital Week IV

Blu-rays of the Week

And Then There Were None

(Acorn)

The classic Agatha Christie mystery, a.k.a. “Ten Little Indians,” returns in this fitfully entertaining yarn that is, quite simply, too long: I know it was made to fill out three one-hour television time slots, but stretching out the story with plentiful flashbacks to the victims’ previous lives strangles the tautness that was Christie’s stock-in-trade. It’s certainly a first-class production, with strong performances by Charles Dance, Toby Stephens, Miranda Richardson, Maeve Dermody and Sam Neill, among others. The hi-def transfer is first-rate; extras include featurettes and interviews.

Betrayed

Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street

(Olive Films)

In Costa-Gavras’s 1988 Betrayed, Debra Winger and Tom Berenger are superb as an undercover FBI agent and the possibly racist murderer she falls for; too bad Joe Eszterhas’ script and Costa-Gavras’s direction highlight the illogical plot holes instead of the stars’ far more interesting character dynamics. 1972’s Dead Pigeon, made in Germany and one of the more bizarre items in director Samuel Fuller’s career, is an alternately fascinating and frustrating drama about an American detective looking for his partner’s killer. Both films have good hi-def transfers; the lone Pigeon extra is the documentary Return to Beethoven Street: Sam Fuller in Germany.

Haven—Complete Final Season

(e one)

In the final season of this offbeat supernatural drama based on Stephen King’s novella The Colorado Kid, the population of the supposedly idyllic seaside town uncovers still more unsettling stories and reveals dark secrets. The large cast—led by Emily Rose, Eric Balfour, Adam Copeland and Lucas Bryant—is able to remain straight-faced throughout, a not inconsiderable fat under the circumstances. The series’ 13 episodes all look impressive on Blu; extras include featurettes, interviews and commentaries.

The Merchant of Venice

(Opus Arte)

Although I’m not too enamored of director Polly Findlay’s modern-dress vision of one of Shakespeare’s more problematic plays, she does have an authentic Shylock in actor Makram J. Khoury, who provides this disjointed production with its most dramatic moments. It’s also unfortunate that Findlay has cast Patsy Ferran, a charmless and one-note Portia, who especially looks bad next to the far more engrossing Khoury. The Blu-ray transfer is excellent; extras include interviews, featurettes and Findlay’s commentary.

Misconduct

(Lionsgate)

Even though Anthony Hopkins and Al Pacino are top-lined in this legal thriller, it’s Josh Duhamel’s show all the way, so your mileage may vary if you’d rather see two past-their-prime legends as the leads instead of mere support, but the main problem with director Shintaro Shimosawa’s routine drama is its inconsistencies, which grow more desperate as it all continues. Still, the cast does decent work—aside from the men, there are Malin Akerman, Julia Stiles and Alice Eve all scoring in thankless parts—which somewhat mitigates the absurdity that’s mostly on display. The film looks fine on Blu; extras include deleted scenes and a making-of featurette.

Outlaw Gangster VIP—The Complete Collection

(Arrow)

Another shining example of Arrow’s growing hi-def collection of films that have been either neglected or simply ignored, this set of the six films in the Outlaw Gangster series—fast-paced, trashily entertaining Japanese gangster flicks churned out starting in 1968, and begun by director Toshio Masuda and star Tetsuya Watari—is the latest gem of a release. The movies themselves are mainly disposable but sturdy entertainments; the hi-def transfers of all six features are stellar; and the extras include a commentary, visual essay and 42-page booklet.

The Stuff

The Zero Boys

(Arrow)

These wacky, grisly mid-80s horror flicks have been brought back from obscurity for whoever wants them. The Stuff, a 1985 entry by Larry Cohen (best known for It’s Alive), is a risibly silly chiller about a new dessert that turns its eaters into…well, something. There’s a surprising then-name cast involved, including Andrea Marcovicci, Michael Moriarty, Paul Sorvino, Garrett Morris and Danny Aiello, while the premise is just whacked-out enough to keep one watching. As for The Zero Boys, Nico Mastorakis’ 1986 slasher entry, neither the deer-in-the-headlights performers nor the less-than-clever ways that people are killed off help matters, while one of Hans Zimmer’s earliest (and synth-laden) scores is only a temporary reprieve. The hi-def transfers are decent enough; extras include intros, interviews and audio commentaries.

June '15 Digital Week I

Blu-rays of the Week

Cymbeline 

Tracers 

(Lionsgate)

Shakespeare's Cymbeline—a complex, problematic but ultimately rewarding play—has been transformed by director Michael Almereyda into an obtuse and pointless drama about outlaw bikers and even worse cops: it should be seen by anyone who wants to hear the Bard butchered by Ed Harris, Ethan Hawke, Milla Jovavich, John Leguizamo and others: it must ve said that Dakota Johnson makes her Imogen sound poetic in this company. In Tracers, Taylor Lautner and Marie Avgeropoulos make goo-goo eyes at each other for 90 minutes as a gang of shifty acrobats jump all over New York in a fast and brainless action flick. Both movies have first-rate transfers; Cymbeline extras are a commentary, featurettes and interviews, and Tracers extras are two featurettes.

Focus 

(Warner Bros)

In this colorful, slickly inconsequential ride, Will Smith and a dazzling Margot Robbie (resembling a more glamorous Jaime Pressley) are con artists who fall in love while taking advantage of other easy—and not so easy—targets...and even each other. Although there are far too many unbelievable twists, Smith is his usual laconic self and the talanted Robbie proves herself, even with such flimsy material, among our most winning young actresses. The movie's glamor translates well to Blu-ray; extras are featurettes, deleted scenes and alternate opening.

Lear 

(Arthaus Musik)

In this monumental 1978 opera based on King Lear, German composer Aribert Reimann's huge chunks of atonal blocks of modernist sound bring out the epic, inexorable tragedy Shakespeare's towering masterpiece: in this 2014 Munich production, baritone Bo Skovhus makes an imposing Lear, and soprano Siobhan Stagg a symapthetic Cordelia; too bad Karoline Gruber's foolish modern-dress staging is at odds with the material itself. Simone Young conducts a lucid, penetrating version of Reimann's powerful score. Extras are Reimann and Young interviews.

Lost Songs—The Basement Tapes Continued 

(Eagle Rock)

Take a bunch of old, circa 1967 Dylan lyrics never set to music; add Elvis Costello, Rhiannon Giddens, Taylor Goldsmith, Jim James and Marcus Mumford to turrn them into new songs with producer T Bone Burnett at the legendary Capitol Records studio in Hollywood and you have an endlessly watchable music documentary. For nearly two hours, these artists fashion intriguing new ways of digging into Dylan's words, and the finished product, while variable, soars when Giddens sings. The hi-def image is good; extras comprise full performances of six of the songs, including Giddens' wonderful "Hidee Hidee Ho #16."

Macbeth 

(Dynamic)

The Two Gentlemen of Verona 

(Opus Arte)

And here's even more Shakespeare. Giuseppe Verdi's opera Macbeth is not one of his best works, and horror movie schlockmeister Dario Argento's diffuse 2013 staging from Novara, Italy, doesn't clarify matters: in the leads, Giuseppe Altomare and Dimitra Theodossiou are unable to transcend Argento's banal direction or Verdi's unimaginative score, which conductor Giuseppe Sabbatini and his players are also hampered by. In Stratford-upon-Avon's new staging of Two Gentlemen of Verona, the Bard's early and bumpy comedy is played as if it's a forerunner of the TV sitcom, which isn't so far wrong; happily, there's a pivotally fine peformance by Pearl Chanda as heroine Julia. Both discs have good transfers; lone extra on Verona is director Simon Goodwin's commentary.

Mortdecai 

(Lionsgate)

Sure, Johnny Depp's unctuous British accent is perfect, but since David Koepp's spy spoof is otherwise DOA, that's not a compelling reason to watch such an aggressively unfunny movie: the real question is, who thought that this would be an entertaining way to spend 105 minutes? Depp is insufferable in a role he hams it up more than in his last few Tim Burton movies, while Gwyneth Paltrow is her usual dull self, gorgeous Olivia Munn has little to do, and poor Ewan MacGregor seems all too aware how hamfisted it all is. The Blu-ray looks fine; extras comprise two featurettes.

DVDs of the Week

Blindsided 

(Cinedigm/Dimension)

Michael Keaton is the only one on the box cover for Joseph Ruben's routine thriller that steals from Wait Until Dark in its story of Sara, blinded while a photojournalist in Iraq, who must use every ounce of her wits to overcome two lethal killers looking for diamonds and cash her boyfriend has been hiding. But it's Michelle Monaghan as Sara who comes up aces, bringing intensity and realism to make us root for her despite the cliched twists that develop as the bad guys (played broadly by Keaton and Barry Sloane) close in on her.

Smiling Through the Apocalypse—Esquire in the '60s 

(First Run)

In his account of his father Harold Hayes's time as editor of Esquire magazine in the 1960s, director Tom Hayes has made a heartfelt but dispassionate reminiscence of one of the great mag men in an era when writing for magazines was considered an exalted cultural position, as breaking news and hard-hitting features presaged a great if controversial era. Archival and new interviews galore with many of those who worked for the magazine, like Gore Vidal, Tom Wolfe, Nora Ephron, Robert Benton and Candice Bergen, don't elbow out Hayes, who rightly remains the central figure. Extras comprise bonus interviews.

So Bright Is the View 

(Indiepix)

The new Romanian cinema, dominated by slow-moving but intelligent character studies, has another winner: brothers Joel Levy Florescu and Michael Levy Florescu wrote and directed this engrossing drama about a preganant young woman dealing with her boyfriend, the possible loss of her job and her deciding to move to either America or to Israel where her mother lives. Formal concision reigns (the movie comprises a few dozen shots and few camera movements), but Bianca Valea's subtly incisive characterization of the young woman that makes this unforgettable. Lone extra is a director interview.

January '14 Digital Week III

Blu-rays of the Week

Blue Jasmine

(Sony)

Woody Allen’s latest is a minor drama whose jumping off-point is the Bernie Madoff scandal and looks at a Wall Street crook’s clueless wife who is unable to find solace in her sympathetic sister. Woody’s script crudely carves up the haves and have nots; though there are fine performances—notably Alec Baldwin as the crooked hubby and Louis CK, Peter Sarsgaard and Andrew Dice Clay as various men in her life—Sally Hawkins is merely okay as the dutiful sister while Cate Blanchett as our heroine gives a mannered and frightfully overdone Judy Davis impersonation. (Typically, both got Oscar nominations.) Javier Aguirresarobe’s snazzy photography shimmers on Blu-ray; extras—rare for a Woody disc—comprise interviews and a press conference with the performers.

Charlie Countryman

(Millennium)

If watching Shia LaBeouf wander aimlessly around Bucharest is your idea of a good time, then by all means check out Fredrik Bond’s convoluted would-be thriller about a young American getting into trouble in Romania. Otherwise—despite attractively gritty locales and the always persuasive Evan Rachel Wood as a Romanian cellist with a dark side—you’ve been warned: it’s 103 minutes you won’t get back. The hi-def transfer is first-rate; extras are deleted scenes and a behind the scenes featurette.

A Chorus Line

(Fox)

Director Richard Attenborough demonstrates that he has little affinity for musicals with this leaden 1985 filmization of the Broadway classic: Michael Bennett’s genius (he created, choreographed and directed the original) is sorely missing, and Marvin Hamlisch’s songs don’t come off well in such a contextless setting. The inner lives of the dancers never come across despite plentiful close-ups: unfortunate ciphers include Michael Douglas, Terrence Mann and Audrey Landers. The Blu-ray transfer looks sharp.

The Doors—R-evolution

(Eagle Vision)

Strictly for Doors completists, this 72-minute compendium brings together a grab-bag of live performances, TV appearances and videos that include such staples as “Break on Through,” “Light My Fire” and “L.A. Woman” on programs as varied as American Bandstand and The Smothers Brothers. It’s hilarious when the band lip-synchs “Hello, I Love You” to a bunch of sour foreigners on a German TV show. Jim Morrison worshippers will get more mileage, of course. The video quality varies widely, especially on hi-def; extras comprise a picture-in-picture commentary and additional music clips.

Nostalghia

(Kino Lorber)

Andrei Tarkovsky’s penultimate 1983 feature, another example of how this singular Russian director “moves with such naturalness through the room of dreams” (according to Ingmar Bergman), is—as always—saddled with a typically diffuse, and explicitly allegorical, narrative. But—also as always—there are moments of visual poetry that only Tarkovsky (and his trusted cinematographer Giuseppe Lanci) could have conceived and shot, like the stunning climactic sequence of a self-immolation by near a symbolic statue. This important near-masterpiece, finally available in hi-def, looks ravishing on Blu-ray.

The Prey

(Cohen Media)

In Eric Valette’s white-knuckle thriller, a bank robber escapes from prison after discovering that his wife and daughter are in danger from a just-released ex-cellmate who might be a serial killer. Plausibility and logic are in short supply, as are the number of on-target gunshots by an obviously inept police force: and don’t get me started on how our hero never is hurt despite death-defying leaps and falls. The cruelty is overdone—did our hero’s wife need to be offed?—but ignore such things and it’s an enjoyable ride. The Blu-ray images look fine; extras are a Valette interview and making-of featurette.

La Vie de Boheme

(Criterion Collection)

I’m no fan of Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki, whose combination of sentimentality and deadpan humor rarely jells: still, this bittersweet, comic 1992 film is among his finest. Although it retains his peculiar sensibility, there’s little of his overbearing condescension. Coupled with wonderful B&W images and an engaged cast that sleepwalks less than usual, Boheme is a minor but distinct pleasure. The Blu-ray image is strong; extras are an interview with actor Andre Wilms and an on-set documentary, Where Is Musette?

The Year of the Cannibals

(Raro Video)

Forty-five years later, Liliana Cavani’s 1969 socialist allegory reeks of little more than righteous anger: her scenario of a society where hundreds of dead bodies are left to rot by the state, which also closes down efforts by our hero and heroine—named Tiresias and Antigone—to affect change. Giulio Albonico’s routine color cinematography even makes the lovely Britt Ekland’s politically symbolic red hair aesthetically unappealing; Cavani’s ideas and direction are equally mediocre. The Blu-ray restoration looks good; lone extra is a new Cavani interview.

DVDs of the Week

Blue Caprice

(IFC)
In their fictionalized account of the Beltway Sniper attacks that terrorized the Washington DC area in 2002, director Alexandre Moors and writer R.F.I. Porto chillingly show how a deranged man and teen killed several people, focusing on a distorted “father-son” relationship that’s brilliantly enacted by Isaiah Washington and Tequan Richmond. The film moves past easy blame to create a complex psychological study of two normal males who turn into monsters. Extras include director/writer commentary, Deauville Film Festival press conference, behind the scenes featurette.

Orpheus Descending

The Portrait

(Warner Archive)

In the mid ‘90s, cable network TNT showed play adaptations made by good directors and solid casts, like these titles. Tennessee Williams’ Orpheus, with Vanessa Redgrave and Kevin Anderson in an illicit love affair directed by Sir Peter Hall, was made in 1990; the same trio did the play on Broadway the year before: Redgrave’s performance is less tortured, more free-flowing onscreen. Tina Howe’s masterly 1982 play Painting Churches became 1993’s The Portrait: veteran Arthur Penn ably directs Gregory Peck and Lauren Bacall as a couple whose artist daughter (Gregory’s real life daughter Cecilia Peck) wants to paint them.

Rewind This

(Filmbuff)

This amiable journey through memory lane will appeal to film geeks and fanboys who look back wistfully at the glory days of Beta, VHS and the VCR, which changed Hollywood and movie viewing forever. In a diverting 90 minutes, director Josh Johnson chronicles the video age, which also revolutionized the porn industry—the raincoat crowd could watch it at home—and even started the careers of moviemaking splatter masters and others. Lots of giggle-inducing clips are included, and copious extras include commentary, extra footage, interviews, even a music video.

October '13 Digital Week III

Blu-rays of the Week

Corruption

(Grindhouse Releasing)

This sleazy 1968 thriller morphs from a swinging London movie into a bizarre serial killer movie after a middle-aged surgeon’s beautiful model wife is disfigured in a freak accident: he stalks unsuspecting young women whose skin he needs to graft onto her hideously burned face. As nuts as it sounds, there’s little actual gore; a weirdly insane finale and over-the-top performances by Peter Cushing and Sue Lloyd make this a frightfully fun 90 minutes. The Blu-ray transfer looks quite good; extras include alternate scenes, interviews, commentary and two versions of the film, one bloodier than the other.

The Heat

(Fox)

Melissa McCarthy cursing like a truck driver is as unappealing as it gets, and this scattershot, incredibly bloated—especially in its extended version—buddy comedy follows suit. Unlike McCarthy telegraphing each joke, Sandra Bullock is a smartly restrained straight man, but that’s no compensation for two hours of bad-taste, unfunny one-liners. The Blu-ray looks excellent, at least; extras include deleted/extended scenes, bloopers, featurettes and five—count ‘em—commentaries.

A Hijacking

(Magnolia)

Unlike the star-laden Captain Phillips, this taut Danish thriller slipped under the radar; everyone who saw heroic Tom Hanks should watch a superior drama which doesn’t rely on star power. Director Tobias Lindholm powerfully shows everyone’s gradual deterioration over the course of drawn-out negotiations between Somali pirates and the head of the Danish shipping company whose vessel they seized. Magisterial acting (Soren Malling, Pilou Asbek and Dar Salim are from the great Danish TV series Borgen) keeps nerves frayed throughout. The Blu-ray image is lustrous; extras include featurettes.

The Hitchhiker

and The Stranger

(Kino)

Ida Lupino’s tense 1953 noir The Hitchhiker—which pits a ruthless killer (William Talman) against two men he kidnaps (Edmond O’Brien and Frank Lovejoy)—is trashy but effective pulp that, at a fleet 71 minutes, never overstays its welcome. Orson Welles’ The Stranger (1946), a crackerjack thriller about a Nazi hiding in plain sight in small town America, wraps everything into a satisfying knot at the end. The Blu-ray transfers are decent but imperfect; Stranger extras include a concentration camp short, audio commentary and Welles’ wartime radio broadcasts.

Jumbo

(Warner Archive)

This lumbering, fitfully entertaining musical is set in a circus—Jumbo is the elephant—but its main claim to fame is a selection of wonderful Rodgers and Hart songs. For over two hours, Jimmy Durante, Doris Day and Martha Raye try their best to put this treacly material over, and occasionally succeed; director Charles Walters’ heavy hand is nearly fatal, while Busby Berkeley’s elaborate circus sequences are nowhere near his best. The hi-def transfer is splendid; extras include a musical short and cartoon. (available through WarnerArchive.com)

Maniac

(IFC)

This blood-drenched remake of a 1980 slasher flick—itself forgettable—has one borrowed idea: the entire action is from the point of view of its murderous protagonist (played by a zombified Elijah Wood, whom we see when his character looks in the mirror), but that’s about it for director Franck Kalfoun’s originality. If you want to see unsurpassed gore, from sticking a knife through a woman’s throat to carving off young ladies’ scalps, then this is the demented movie for you. Why such a winning actress like Nora Arnezeder would appear in this is a condemnation of roles for women. The Blu-ray image is crisp and clear enough to wallow in the gruesome bloodlettings in rich HD; extras include Wood and Kalfoun’s commentary, deleted scenes, an hour-long making-of.

Shrek—The Musical

(Fox)

It played on Broadway five years ago, so this release of the musical based on the beloved William Steig book and subsequent movie franchise is belated to say the least. The hit-or-miss show has cute if forgettable songs by Jeanine Tesori and a campy book by David Lindsay-Abaire. But it’s the cast that shines: Brian D’Arcy James’ Shrek, Daniel Breaker’s Donkey, Christopher Sieber’s Lord Farquaad and—most memorably of all—Sutton Foster’s touching and funny Princess, the best thing about this watchable knock-off. The Blu-ray looks fine; extras include short featurettes.

Superheroes—A Never-Ending Battle

(PBS)
In this detailed chronicle of America’s greatest contribution to pop culture—comic books—the history superheroes from Superman’s birth during the rise of 1930s European fascism, is recounted up to current CGI-dominated movies. Narrated by the ubiquitous Liev Schreiber, the three-part program comprises interviews with so many experts and historians that it’s no surprise the extras feature more interviews taking up another 40 minutes. The Blu-ray image looks stellar.

Vikings—Complete 1^st Season

(MGM)

In this impressive-looking dramatic series, the legendary warriors and explorers who bravely left the comforts of home for unknown lands get television’s usual melodramatic treatment, with copious sex and violence overshadowing credible characterizations. Visual design and the actors are first-rate; far less compelling is a lack of an original point of view. The hi-def transfer is ravishing to the eye; extras include deleted scenes, commentaries and interviews.

DVDs of the Week

After Earth

(Sony)

This sour, humorless piece of sci-fi is the ultimate vanity project: Will Smith is not only credited with the (vapid) story but stars with his teenage son Jaden as a father-son team that crash-lands on an uninhabited earth, with the wounded dad guiding his willful son to success and survival against various obstacles and creatures. As a half-hour Twilight Zone episode, it would barely pass muster, but at 100 minutes, as nominally directed by M. Night Shyamalan and badly acted by Smith pere and fils, this is impersonal Hollywood moviemaking at its most ludicrous. Extras include self-congratulatory featurettes.

The Assassination Bureau

(Warner Archive)

This very mild satire about the morality of murder was directed without much distinction by veteran Basil Dearden. In fact, for a movie made in 1968, featuring a fairly interesting cast (Oliver Reed, Telly Savalas, Diana Rigg), set in enticing European locales and climaxing with a sword fight aboard an airborne dirigible, this mostly forgettable movie remains unfocused on what it wants to scatter its shots at. (available through WarnerArchive.com)

Deep Purple—Perfect Strangers

(Eagle Vision)

When the best-loved Deep Purple lineup reformed in 1984 for its Perfect Strangers album, the band embarked on a worldwide tour, and this two-hour Australia performance shows them at the peak of their considerable hard rock powers. Along with the title track and other tunes from that album (which sounds dated thanks to the era’s processed guitar sound), the group also barnstorms through classics like opener “Highway Star” and inevitable closer “Smoke on the Water.” Included is a featurette about the album and tour.

Plush

(Millennium)

Emily Browning, who’s shown an ability to outclass her material in such middling items as Sleeping Beauty and Sucker Punch, does it again in this tepid thriller about a rock star who falls for a bad boy guitarist with a past. Director Catherine Hardwicke, who made Thirteen and a little something called Twilight, seems unsure whether to go for full-on thrills or make it campy, with the result neither scary nor humorous. Browning’s sexy heroine helps, but not enough. Extras include videos and extended musical sequences.

Treasures of New York

(PBS)

This attractive compendium of the enlightening PBS series about New York City area attractions comprises seven episodes, showing off the Park Avenue Armory, New-York Historical Society, Hearst Tower, Roosevelt House, Pratt Institute, New York Botanical Garden and American Museum of Natural History. The series, which is continuing this season with new programs about the Saratoga Race Track (not really near NYC) and Four Freedoms Monument on Roosevelt Island, is a must-watch travelogue.

With Love…From the Age of Reason

(First Run)

In this relentlessly cutesy comedy, Sophie Marceau tries to keep her head above water as a single-minded career woman who learns what’s important in life when she gets letters from her seven-year-old self on her 40^th birthday. Yann Samuell’s mediocre movie goes exactly where you expect, and despite Marceau investing her character with as much emotion as possible, there’s little she can do to elevate this above the passable.

CDs of the Week

Leos Janacek—The Piano

(Allegro)

It’s always heartening when a master composer best known in one genre—Janacek’s operas, from Jenufa and Kata Kabanova to The Makropulos Case and The Cunning Little Vixen, are among the 20^th century’s greatest—is spotlighted in another, like this first-rate two-disc set of Janacek’s solo piano works by Luxembourg-born Cathy Krier. Along with a few immature early works, masterpieces like his piano sonata (titled 1.X.1905) and the suites In the Mists and On an Overgrown Path are played by Krier with lilting gracefulness. This is the first standout traversal of Janacek’s piano music since Andras Schiff’s nearly 20 years ago.

Krzysztof Penderecki—Piano Concerto (Resurrection)
(Hanssler Classic)

When Penderecki’s piano concerto Resurrection premiered in 2002, it was criticized for exploiting the horrific events of September 11 (hence its subtitle). Whether or not that was the reason, a revised version was premiered five years later; this recording, with Florian Uhlig dazzlingly playing the demanding piano part, allows the work to breathe on its own without any 9/11 baggage. Penderecki's score, which moves restlessly from dark tragedy to majestic light, is given a towering performance (the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra plays magnificently under conductor Lukasz Borowicz) that propels it to the top of anyone's list of memorable 21st century works.