Blu-rays of the Week
(Film Movement
Classics)
Bille August made this 1992 masterpiece from Ingmar Bergman’s script which
recounts how his mother and father met, married and started a family—not the
most original story, but when filmed with such artistry, written with such
insight and acted with such forcefulness by Pernilla August and Samuel Froler
as Ingmar’s parents and other great Swedish actors like Max von Sydow and Ghita
Norby, it becomes three gripping hours that simply fly by. In fact, it’s too
bad that the original five-hour Swedish TV version isn’t included as an extra,
because more of this family’s saga would always be welcome. The film looks absolutely
splendid on Blu; the lone extra is Bergman’s extraordinary 1984 short, Karin’s
Face, comprising only pictures of his mother as Bergman explores his family history
with his usual mastery.
Gods of Egypt
(Lionsgate)
Clive Owen and
Jaeden Lieberher make a nice pair as an estranged dad and his young son in Bob
Nelson’s understated drama The
Confirmation; Maria Bello is wonderfully real as Owen’s ex and Lieberher’s
mom, but the contrivances that Nelson builds up in the movie’s second half nearly
destroys whatever sympathy was earned earlier. In Gods of Egypt, director Alex Proyas has made another movie that
swallows up his actors with over-the-top CGI: these tales beg for a campy, Clash of the Titans treatment, but
instead the likes of Gerard Butler and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau are reduced to
cardboard by the visual miasma that fills the screen. Both films have excellent
hi-def transfers; Confirmation extras
comprise two featurettes, Gods extras
are storyboards, featurettes and interviews.
King and
Country—Shakespeare’s Great Cycle of Kings
(Opus Arte)
The Royal
Shakespeare Company’s decision to perform Shakespeare’s classic tetraology of
history plays—Richard II, Henry IV 1
& 2 and Henry V—was an
inspired one under Gregory Doran’s accomplished direction and the flawless acting
of David Tennant as Richard, Antony Sher as Falstaff and Alex Hassell as Prince
Hal, later Henry V. All four plays have been given superlative productions: costumes,
sets and lighting are peerless, supporting casts are magnificent and Doran’s pacing
is perfect. For those unable to get to the RSC’s Stratford-upon-Avon home, this
set is the next best thing: the filmed performances look first-rate, with
extras including Doran’s commentary on all four plays and interviews with
historians, scholars, actors and creative team and crew.
(Universal)
This black
comedy about a hitman who falls for a young woman desperate for any sort of
relationship is often wrongheaded and hits many sour notes as it attempts to
balance rom-com deconstruction with gleeful Tarantino-lite violence. Despite that,
director Paco Cabezas has smartly cast Sam Rockwell as the hitman and Anna
Kendrick as his girl, and their tart, tongue-in-cheek performances give the
movie more amusement and staying power than it deserves. It looks good on Blu; the
lone extra is a making-of featurette.
Rolling Stones—Totally Stripped
(Eagle Rock)
During its
1995 tour, the Rolling Stones played a trio of semi-acoustic shows at smaller
venues and even re-recorded some re-arranged songs in the studio, and the
resulting 91-minute film glimpses not only some of the performances but also the
interplay among band members during the studio sessions. The best performances
are of warhorses like “Gimme Shelter” and “Let It Bleed” and lesser-known but
still worthwhile cuts like “Faraway Eyes” and “Dead Flowers.” The documentary
has good if not overwhelming hi-def audio and video; the accompanying CD
includes 14 songs from those fabled Amsterdam, Paris and London shows.
(HBO)
Martin
Scorsese directed the two-hour pilot episode of this new HBO series about machinations
at a record company in the 1970s, which was the best two hours of the series so
far: all of the usual melodramatics are present and accounted for, including
lame “appearances” by actors aping David Bowie, Led Zeppelin etc. It ultimately—and
disappointingly—adds up to little that’s compelling or interesting, even if it
is well-acted by a top cast that’s led by Bobby Cannavalle as the head honcho
and a revelatory Olivia Wilde as his wife. The hi-def transfer is quite good;
extras include features and commentaries.
Zootopia
(Disney)
Another
visually arresting and hugely popular animated Disney feature, this spoof of
buddy pictures has its share of laughs and tugging at the heartstrings—especially
with the anthropomorphic animals at the heart of its success—but the constant punning,
sight gags and pop-culture references become enervating after awhile, especially
when everything’s dragged out to an overlong 108 minutes. The
computer-generated animation has a flawless Blu-ray transfer; extras include featurettes,
deleted scenes and characters, Easter eggs and a Shakira music video.
Casual
Encounters
(Lionsgate)
Taran Killan
is not my idea of a leading man, but he’s better at anchoring flimsy indie
comedies than fellow former SNLer Jason Sudekis: still, Killan’s limited acting
skills tend to show the same face over and over again. But at least he’s a believable
ordinary schlub whose girlfriend leaves him publicly after his latest screw-up.
More surprising is Brooklyn Decker as Killan’s nerdy co-worker who helps guide him
through his post-breakup malaise. Director Zackary Adler does little new with his
material, but there are scattered laughs throughout mercifully brief running
time. Extras include featurettes and music video.
One More Time
(Anchor Bay)
Yes, Amber
Heard can act—and not just in her Instagram photos: she demonstrates real chops
in this low-key, semi-satisfying broken family comic drama about an aspiring
singer who visits her famous crooner father’s Montauk house to mend fences with
him and others in her screwed-up family. Christopher Walken as dad and Heard
make a formidable team, whether singing or sparring, and a fine supporting cast
(Ann Magnuson, Kelli Garner, Oliver Platt, even Hamish Linklater) keeps Robert
Edwards’ film from dragging its feet.
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