Blu-rays of the Week
DaVinci’s Demons—Complete 1st
Season
(Starz)
In this clever evocation of
Renaissance Italy, Leonardo DaVinci is shown as a genius tortured both inwardly
and outwardly as he goes about his artistic and scientific pursuits including
the inventions that still surprise and delight today. The mini-series shows how
DaVinci frightened those in power, both religious and secular, and his
response; as history, it’s not much, but as guilty-pleasure drama, it works
handily. The hi-def image looks fantastic; extras include commentaries,
featurettes and deleted scenes.
(Bel Air)
Wolfgang Mozart’s greatest opera gets
an intriguing 2010 outdoor production at the summer festival in Aix-en-Provence,
France, featuring a seductive Don Juan played by Bo Skohvus with almost manic
intensity. Of the women he beds and casts off, Marlis Petersen and Kristine
Opolais come off most sympathetically; Dmitri Tcherniakov’s adroit staging is complemented
by Louis Langree’s sensitive conducting. On Blu-ray, the opera looks and sounds
superb; a 30-minute featurette is the lone extra.
Frankenstein’s Army
(Dark Sky)
This sadistic horror flick finds
a group of Russian soldiers near the end of WWII coming up against a foe
greater than the regular Nazi army: a horde of metal-and-flesh creatures made
by a deranged scientist with the familiar family name. As such grotesqueries
go, Richard Raaphurst has made a diverting if difficult to watch piece of
gruesomeness; despite not going overboard with the gore, the entire gimmicky machinery
grinds to a halt halfway through. The Blu-ray image is first-rate; lone extra
is a making-of featurette.
From Up on Poppy Hill
(Cindegm)
This ravishing Studio Ghibli
animated feature is not directed by Hayao Miyazaki but his son Goro (Dad
co-wrote it): the familial legacy is apparent in an ability to dance on the
line of succumbing to sentiment—but never crossing it. The ridiculously
gorgeous visuals are as breathtaking as ever on Blu-ray, where they look absolutely
stunning. Extras include full-length storyboards, music video, featurettes,
interviews and the option of the (preferred) original Japanese version or the
dubbed English-language one.
Haven—Complete 3rd
Season
(e one)
This eerie mystery series, based loosely
on Stephen King’s story “The Colorado Kid,” follows FBI agents Audrey Parker and
Nathan find themselves involved in nefarious dealings in the small Maine town
of Haven, thanks to the return of “The Troubles,” which continue to affect the
townspeople. The plotting is rarely credible, but even at its most outlandish, agreeable performances make this an
honest to goodness guilty pleasure. The hi-def image is unsurpassable; extras
include a documentary featurette, audio commentaries, interviews, deleted scenes
and a blooper reel.
(Eagle Vision)
Deep Purple’s keyboardist (who
died last year) composed this sprawling work in 1969, and this recording—by the
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra under Paul Mann’s baton—is an all-star
affair, with Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson (vocals), all-star session man Guy
Pratt (bass), Darin Vasilev, Jon Bonnamassa and Steve Morse (guitar), and Lord
himself (organist). At 45 minutes, this otherwise listenable mash-up of rock
and orchestral music goes on way too long. The Blu-ray has the Concerto in 5.1
surround audio, a 50-minute documentary and interviews with Mann and Marco de
Goeij.
Spartacus—War of the Damned
(Starz)
In the bloody conclusion to an epic
mini-series, Spartacus’ slave uprising threatens the Roman republic, and only
the sheer outnumbering strength of the Roman army might be able to stop it. This
swords-and-sandals remake is definitely (and defiantly) not like Stanley
Kubrick’s Spartacus: there’s a lot of
brutality, violence and sex that couldn’t have been shown onscreen back in 1960.
The Blu-ray looks marvelous; extras include featurettes, extended scenes and
commentaries.
I Killed My Mother
(Kino Lorber)
This 2009 debut film by then 20-year-old
Quebecois director Xavier Dolan is a heartfelt but crudely sentimental exploration
of a gay teenager’s complex relationship with his overbearing mother. Although Dolan
is awkward onscreen, he smartly allows his film to be dominated by Anne
Dorval’s indelible portrait of a matriarch in a love-hate tug-of-war with her
son.
Into the Arms of Strangers
(Warner Archive)
Judi Dench narrates this moving
documentary about how thousands of Jewish children were rescued from the Nazi
threat and sent to England for the duration of the war. Director Mark Jonathan
Harris grippingly chronicles the amazing true story of the Kindertransport,
which includes rarely-seen archival footage and interviews with survivors, who
recount their own emotionally wrenching tales of goodness in the face of
ultimate evil.
(Warner Archive)
Tony Richardson’s adaptation of
Evelyn Waugh’s sly novel might have seemed racy and daring in 1965, but half a
century has dulled its edge and muted its satiric depiction of Southern
California as a land of shallow slickness, compared to more cultured Old World
of Europe. The movie is best seen as a time capsule (complete with Haskell
Wexler’s exquisite B&W photography) that features cameos by stars of the
day from Jonathan Winters and John Gielgud to Liberace and Milton Berle. Again,
being relegated to Warner Archive, blunts the effectiveness of Wexler’s widescreen
compositions; a lone featurette is an extra.
The Red Badge of Courage
(Warner Archive)
Even in its truncated form (it clocks
in at a mere 69 minutes), John Huston’s 1951 adaptation of Stephen Crane’s
classic Civil War story is a vivid look at war’s effect on young soldiers.
Harold Rosson’s B&W photography strikingly nods to Matthew Brady’s
photographs, and Huston gets top-notch portrayals by Audie Murphy and Bill
Maudlin as the men at war. It’s too bad this classic film has been relegated to
Warner’s on-demand burn service.
(Eagle Vision)
This 1995 concert by guitarist
Ritchie Blackmore’s post-Deep Purple band was filmed in Dusseldorf, before a
raucous German crowd that enthusiastically approves of every famous guitar lick
and riff from Blackmore’s axe. Although vocalist Doogie White is no Ronnie
James Dio or David Coverdale, the sturdy songs are the real deal, including the
all-time classic “Smoke on the Water.” There’s even a vocal appearance by
Blackmore’s wife Candice White, who provides ethereal vocals on “Ariel."
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