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Reviews
December '13 Digital Week II
- Details
- Parent Category: Film and the Arts
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Monday, 09 December 2013 03:34
- Written by Kevin Filipski
Blu-rays of the Week
Argo—Extended Edition
(Warners)
Director-star Ben Affleck’s Oscar-winning Best Picture dramatizes the so-strange-it-must-be-true story of U.S. embassy workers during the Iranian hostage crisis holed up in the Canadian ambassador’s house while the CIA concocted an elaborate rescue plan.
The tension remains even though we know the outcome: it’s just too bad that Affleck can’t resist adding a phony “skin of their teeth” climax. This “new” edition features a 10-minutes-longer cut that looks superb on Blu-ray; new extras include featurettes, and “old” extras include Affleck and writer Chris Terrio’s commentary, several featurettes and a documentary about the hostages on the 25th anniversary of their rescue.
(MPI)
Bret Easton Ellis’ script about a group of vapid Hollywood types brooding and screwing and partying is even shallower than these people have any right to be, with laughable dialogue and nonexistent motivation. Even director Paul Schrader, who obviously tried to make this look professional, can do little with what Ellis handed him.
Lindsay Lohan—who bares all—tries her hardest, but she’s undermined by Ellis’s script and costar James Deen’s invisibility. The Blu-ray transfer looks attractive; extras include brief featurettes.
Carmen Jones
Desk Set
(Fox)
In Otto Preminger’s excellent 1954 adaptation of Oscar Hammerstein’s Carmen Jones (from Bizet’s classic opera), Dorothy Dandridge and Harry Belafonte give a clinic in star power and charisma as the ill-fated lovers whose destiny is intertwined in their fateful love affair.
The inimitable duo of Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy goes through its paces in the fitfully funny 1957 Walter Lang-directed comedy Desk Set about modernization in the office. Both Cinemascope films look virtually flawless on Blu-ray; Desk Set extras are a commentary and featurette.
(Raro)
One of Roberto Rossellini’s most conventional films is this 1959 drama with fellow director Vittorio de Sica (who’s splendid) as an amoral Italian who becomes a Nazi collaborator and must decide whether morality is preferable to money.
Shot in gritty B&W (which looks good, not great, in hi-def), Rossellini’s film straightforwardly explores his country’s decisions of conscience during World War II. The disc contains Rossellini’s 140-minute cut and the released 132-minute version; extras include interviews and a video essay about the film, Truth of Fiction.
Getaway
(Warners)
This witlessly turgid thriller puts Ethan Hawke (as a race car driver) and Selena Gomez (his unwilling passenger) together to race through the streets of Sofia, Bulgaria at the behest of an unseen madman (Jon Voight) who kidnaped his wife.
Lots of impressive stunt driving and car chases don’t compensate for incoherent, nearly unwatchable storytelling. The Blu-ray looks good; extras include featurettes.
Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion
(Criterion)
Elio Petri’s splashy but gripping drama—which justly won 1970’s Best Foreign Film Oscar—showcases that great actor Gian Maria Volonte in his signature role as a police chief who murders his mistress then spends the rest of the movie daring his underlings to arrest him for the crime.
Luigi Kuveiller’s photography and Ennio Morricone’s music are sublimely of a piece with the rest of the film, which brilliantly demonstrates the lost art of the intelligent, uncompromising political thriller. The hi-def transfer looks immaculate; an amazing array of extras includes a 90-minute documentary, Elio Petri: Notes about a Filmmaker (2005); a 2008 docInvestigation of a Citizen Named Volonte; a 2010 Morricone interview, archival Petri interview and scholar Camilla Zamboni interview.
The Perfect American
(Opus Arte)
For his 25th opera, Philip Glass takes on Walt Disney, one of the towering figures of the 20th century: this complex man—an innovative and beloved artist who was also deeply conservative and racist—was of his times, and Rudy Wurlitzer’s absorbing libretto takes his measure, even if Glass’s repetitive music never reaches similar heights.
Phelim McDermott’s extraordinary production (at its January Madrid world premiere), gives the opera a visual gloss remindful of Disney at his best without slavish imitation. Christopher Purves is a strong acting and singing protagonist; Dennis Russell Davies conducts a lucid account of Glass’s underwhelming score. The hi-def image and sound are tremendous.
(Sony)
Every kid’s favorite blue cartoon creatures return in this cute adventure set in Paris, where they fight off the evil wizard Gargamel, who tries creating Smurf clones through his original “naughties.”
Even if it makes scant sense, kids won’t mind, even if its PG rating promises “rude humor and action.” Overall, though, it’s innocuous family entertainment. The Blu-ray image is crystal clear; extras include featurettes and deleted scenes.
The Stone Roses—Made of Stone
(MVD)
Director Shane Meadows, a long-time fan, made this chronicle of the reunion of the Stone Roses after a 16-year split—which culminates with three concerts in the band members’ hometown of Manchester—that’s chockful of fly-on-the-wall moments, rehearsals, interviews and other goodies Stone Roses fans will enjoy.
This insider’s portrait won’t create many new fans, but Meadows’ approach as unpretentiously chummy. The hi-def transfer looks good; extras include a commentary, behind the scenes footage and live performances.
Buying Sex
Speak the Music
(First Run)
Teresa Macinnes and Kent Nason’s Buying Sex—which shows the effects of a debated Ontario court decision that basically made prostitution legal—even-handedly allows both sides their views despite quite emotional responses to a volatile (and intensely personal) issue.
Veteran classical-music documentarian Allan Miller’s Speak the Music is a succinct, involving 60-minute portrait of violinist Robert Mann, one of the scions of chamber music in the United States, who comes off as witty and personable but eminently serious about his art.
The Hunchback
Young Catherine
(Warner Archive)
Peter Medak’s 1997 The Hunchback, a TV movie from Victor Hugo’s classic, stars a sexy young Salma Hayek as gypsy Esmeralda, Richard Harris as Don Frollo and the stunning transformation of Mandy Patinkin as Quasimodo: nearly unrecognizable under the makeup like John Hurt in The Elephant Man, Patinkin is nevertheless touching and real.
In the three-hour 1991 mini-series Young Catherine, a young Julia Ormond gives a strong, sensual portrayal of the young German princess who became empress of Russia in the 18th century—terrific support comes from Vanessa Redgrave as her domineering mother-in-law and Christopher Plummer as her lone friend among the court.
(Music Box)
The bizarre but true story of Brandon Darby—left-wing activist turned FBI informant—is profiled in Jamie Meltzer’s matter-of-fact documentary, which is filled with interviews with Darby himself as well as former and current associates like late conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart, who enthusiastically welcomed Darby to the Tea Party.
Meltzer’s insightful film shows how, in the 21st century, the anti-terrorist state will use any means at its disposal to keep an eye on its citizens.
The ’83 US Festival—Days 1-3
(MVD)
This truncated overview of the second US Festival—a splashy California pop-and-rock event—presents 45-minute chunks of its three days: U2 and Stevie Nicks are represented with two songs each, The Clash and INXS get one song each, but long-forgotten Men at Work, Quarterflash and Berlin and hard-rockers Judas Priest, the Scorpions and Canada’s Triumph (which gets four songs, most by any artist!) are also included.
Missing in action are any glimpses of the sets by Van Halen, Ozzy Osbourne, Pretenders or David Bowie. Strangely, some songs have voiceovers that smother parts of them, thanks to interviews with MTV VJ Mark Goodman or the acts themselves, like Colin Hay of Men at Work.
December '13 Digital Week I
- Details
- Parent Category: Film and the Arts
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Monday, 02 December 2013 03:13
- Written by Kevin Filipski
Blu-rays of the Week
All Is Bright
(Anchor Bay)
Phil Morrison’s offbeat holiday-themed comedy aspires to a Bill Forsyth feel in its story of two Montreal low-lifes who drive to Brooklyn to sell Christmas trees: one is getting divorced from the woman the other is planning to marry, which of course causes endless complications.
The mood isn’t sustained—only Forsyth can do despair and joy simultaneously in classics like Local Hero and Housekeeping—but with perfectly matched actors like Paul Giamatti and Paul Rudd, Morrison and writer Melissa James Gibson have made an endearingly adult comedy. The Blu-ray image looks great.
(Sundance Selects)
In this unbearably trite comedy, several self-absorbed characters—two young Americans and a trio of local brothers—travel around Chile in search of the ultimate hallucinogen.
Although well-acted (especially by Gaby Hoffman as a clichéd free spirit), none of these characters is in the least interesting, while also remaining off-putting; the movie—directed by Sebastian Silva, brother of the clan playing the brothers—falls into a rut it can’t get out of. The hi-def transfer is solid; a making-of featurette is the lone extra.
George Thorogood & the Destroyers—Live at Montreux
(Eagle Rock)
Ageless blues-rocker George Thorogood took the stage with The Destroyers for 90 minutes of a pure, unadulterated rock’n’blues this past summer in Montreux, Switzerland.
Thorogood and his boys have a good boogie-woogie vibe on such classic barroom tunes as “Move It On Over,” “Bad to the Bone,” and his best alcohol-fueled shot, “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer.” The hi-def image and sound are first-rate; lone extra is a Thorogood interview.
Hannah Arendt
(Zeitgeist)
Director Margarethe von Trotta and actress Barbara Sukowa team to dramatize the formidable Jewish-German theorist-philosopher whose description of Nazi Adolf Eichmann as the “banality of evil” at his 1961 trial outraged many as defending the indefensible. Von Trotta shows Arendt at the trial and afterwards in New York intellectual circles.
This is Sukowa’s show: her Hannah is a shrewd combination of intensity and warmth, who hasn’t been scrubbed clean, but is allowed to speak for herself: the spellbinding sequence where she defends her work against those calling her a self-hating Jew for what she called Eichmann is where a sympathetic director and actress create an indelible portrait of a 20th century giant. The Blu-ray image is first-rate; extras comprise a making-of featurette, deleted scenes and—on the DVD only—a discussion with von Trotta, Sukowa, actress Janet McTeer and co-writer Pamela Katz.
Paranoia
(Fox)
A middling thriller that shows off its leading man’s physique more often than even his biggest fans would want, Paranoia features Liam Hemsworth, whose acting is as flat as his abs are chiseled.
Although Gary Oldman and Harrison Ford sleepwalk through the movie as rival masters of the universe, Amber Heard and Embeth Davidtz’s persuasive performances help it all glide by mindlessly but painlessly to an obvious conclusion. The Blu-ray image is good; extras are deleted scenes and featurettes.
(LionsGate)
This sequel to the action flick about middle-aged secret agents is entertaining enough, although it’s like the Smokey and the Bandit movies where it seems the actors are having more fun goofing off on-set than the audience does watching the movie.
Still, it has enough explosive artillery to satisfy genre fans, and tongue-in-cheek performances by Mary Louise Parker, Helen Mirren, Anthony Hopkins and Bruce Willis keep this overlong parody on track. The hi-def transfer looks excellent; extras include a gag reel, deleted scenes and a making-of documentary.
The Vivien Leigh Collection
(Cohen Media)
Vivien Leigh became famous in 1939 with her Oscar-winning Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind, but the beautiful and talented stage actress had been making films in her native England for years: this 1937-8 quartet provides a peek into her onscreen versatility.
Fire Over England is watchable historical fluff, while the other films—Dark Journey, Storm in a Teacup and St. Martin’s Lane—are sentimental romantic fodder with little going for them except Leigh’s presence. The Blu-ray transfers look excellent; lone extra is a discussion by Leigh expert and biographer Kendra Bean.
Animals
(Artsploitation)
What begins as a beguiling dramedy about a sexually confused teen with a talking teddy bear companion becomes a totally different animal by the time of its “shocking” high-school shooter finale.
Director Marcel Fores confidently deals with tricky subject matter, and even if it’s a bumpy ride at times, there’s enough grounding in both emotional and psychological reality to make it worthwhile. Extras include commentary and featurettes.
Blood on the Docks
The Half Brother
(MHZ)
(MHZ)
Set in the grimy French port of Le Havre, Blood is a gritty policier about a group of detectives solving perplexing murder cases; the actors are super, the writing and directing realistic, and the investigations arrestingly use the English Channel town’s visual blight.
The absorbing Norwegian mini-series The Half Brother is involving from the get-go, when the case of a disappeared young man begins with the raping of his virgin mother, who nearly dies from the attack. There’s top-notch acting by several generations of Norway’s stars, from Ghita Norby (who was in Hansun, so her burning a Hansun book is a sly in-joke) to Mariann Hole and Agnes Kittlesen.
(Virgil)
This trenchant documentary devastatingly shows how, after Shane’s lover Tom dies in a freak accident, Shane is shunned by Tom’s family and literally erased from their son’s short life.
Through emotional interviews with Shane, his family and his and Tom’s friends, director Linda Bloodworth-Thomson maps an unforgettable journey through the sadly ongoing battle between love and bigotry.
Le Joli Mai
(Icarus)
In Chris Marker and Pierre Llohme’s cinema verite portrait of Paris in May, 1962 (after the end of the Algerian War), dozens of Parisians wax philosophically about their lives and where they are headed as a society.
But its 143 intellectually packed minutes are an endurance test because only a few of the participants’ arguments and opinions are clearly articulated. Judicious tightening would make this snapshot even stronger. Both English and French versions are included—the English one narrated by Simone Signoret—and a bonus disc includes deleted scenes and related short films.
(Indiepix)
Iranian expatriate director Shirin Neshat has made an impassioned study of several women in her home country in 1953, when a coup d’etat engineered by the Americans and British made the Shah ruler for a quarter-century until the Muslim Revolution overthrew him and led to the captivity of American embassy hostages.
The strongly drawn quartet of disparate female characters is well-acted by Shabnam Tolouei, Pegah Ferydoni, Arita Shahrzad and Orsolya Tóth; Neshat’s ability to deal with sociological and historical issues is also vividly realized. Extras include an interview with Neshat.
Film Review: "Philomena"
- Details
- Parent Category: Film and the Arts
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Wednesday, 27 November 2013 22:57
- Written by Matt Oakes
"Philomena"
Directed by Stephen Frears
Starring Judi Dench, Steve Coogan, Sophie Kennedy Clark, Mare Winningham, Barbara Jefford, Michelle Fairley, Peter Hermann, Sean Mahon
Drama
98 Mins
PG-13
Philomena Lee's true story is the stuff of nightmares. Her baby stolen away by nuns and sold to the highest bidder, the path to that forfeited son swept clean, locked inside the tight-lipped vault of one particularly malevolent Catholic nun, Philomena has been through hell on Earth. And yet, she won't condemn those who have brought so much suffering upon her. Instead, she passes absolution down like Jesus himself. She may not ever forget but she is willing to forgive and from her untainted spirit, we can all learn a valuable lesson.
In Philomena, Martin Sixsmith's not quite disgraced but he's been let go from his cushy position over at the Labour party. Unsure where to start on his long-gestated novel of Russian history, he's offered a chance to turn Irish elder Philomena's life story into a personal piece by an old friend editor, Sally (Michelle Fairley). Intent on maintaining his journalistic pride, he refuses to touch her story on the grounds that it's a human interest story and "human interest stories are read by weak-minded, ignorant people and written by weak-minded, ignorant people." But when Martin meets Philomena, he is equally captivated by the unspeakable calamity that she's just now opening up about for the first time in sixty years.
Film Review: "Frozen"
- Details
- Parent Category: Film and the Arts
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Wednesday, 27 November 2013 04:20
- Written by Matt Oakes
"Frozen"
Directed by Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
Starring Kristen Bell, Josh Gad, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff, Santino Fontana, Alan Tudyk, Ciarán Hinds, Chris Williams, Stephen J. Anderson
Animation, Adventure, Comedy
108 Mins
PG
Although still lacking the gilded touch that made the likes of Aladdin, Lion King, and Beauty and the Beast such timeless classics, Frozen is a rock solid addition to the post-hand-drawn Disney musical stable and is the best animated feature of the year by a good margin.
Made up of a relatively unknown vocal talent, Frozen values story and song more than an all-star cast and kitschy pop culture jokes, making it an experience that'll warm the most curmudgeonly of hearts and a film rich with beautifully-realized animation that keeps the wow factor buzzing for children and adults alike.
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