In-Theater Releases of the Week 

This entry into the John Wick universe introduces Eve, an assassin out to avenge her father’s murder at the hands of a syndicate headed by the Chancellor, who seemingly has an entire village in central Europe at his lethal disposal.

 

 

Director Len Wiseman doesn’t vary the blueprint for these shoot-’em-ups that resemble nothing more video games on the big screen, and despite how dopily entertaining it is, two hours of dozens (and dozens) of killings, however cleverly executed—Eve and adversaries wield guns, grenades, knives, swords, ice skate blades, water hoses and flamethrowers—make its star, the usually magnetic Ana de Armas, secondary to the action. The ending leaves room for a sequel, which is either a promise or a threat, depending on one’s point of view. 

 

 

 

Our War 

French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy has already made films about Ukraine since Russia’s 2022 invasion—Why Ukraine, Slava Ukraini, Glory to the Heroes!—and his latest (codirected with Marc Roussel) is another urgent dispatch from the front lines, showing that the fighting spirit of the armed forces, ordinary citizens and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has not wavered despite years of wanton destruction and death.

 

 

Lévy smartly shows, without comment, the disgusting gotcha Oval Office display by Trump and his lapdog Vance when they jumped on Zelenskyy as if he invaded Russia and not the other way around—letting its idiocy speak for itself. But the bulk of Lévy’s film records the depth of the brave patriotism of so many Ukrainians.

 

 

 

Redlands 

Made in 2014, John Brian King’s film about Vienna (Nicole Arianna Fox), a nude model who poses for creepy photographer Allan (Clifford Morts) while living with her creep of a boyfriend/pimp, Zack (Sam Brittan), is a slow-burn drama in which not much is burning.

 

 

It’s a series of stiffly staged sequences that leads to a final scene in a morgue, and it ends up resembling a snuff film. It’s sharply photographed by Ioana Vasile and unevenly acted by Morts as Allan and Brittan as Zack, while Fox’s winning presence as Vienna make us feel that both performer and character deserve a better fate. 

 

 

 

Streaming Releases of the Week

Based on a novel by Robert Littell that was previously adapted as a 1981 drama with John Savage and Christopher Plummer, James Hawes’ mild thriller follows a CIA cryptographer, Charlie Fuller (Remi Malek), who forces himself into action to track down the quartet of terrorists responsible for the gruesome execution of his innocent wife Sarah (Rachel Brosnahan).

 

 

Jumping around Europe following Charlie ingeniously planning his revenge against the foursome—and evading his complicit superiors—the movie covers a lot of geographical ground but haphazard plotting and a lack of an emotional connection (Ramek is surprisingly distant in what could have been a bravura turn) mitigate its efficiency.

 

 

 

Hurry Up Tomorrow 

Pop star vanity projects are a dime a dozen, but not since the mid-’80s—when Prince’s Purple Rain and Under the Cherry Moon and Paul McCartney’s Give My Regards to Broad Street soiled screens—has there been a wrongheaded entry like this, which the Weeknd cowrote and stars in as a version of himself dealing with emotional and relationship turmoil while being the biggest star in the world.

 

 

At least Prince and Paul had good tunes to assuage their egos; the Weeknd’s synth-laden, autotuned pop is tough to hear over and over. The usually appealing Jenna Ortega only has one good scene, when she dances deliriously; poor Barry Keough is also wasted as the star’s manager. Director Trey Edward Shults (also a cowriter) has little sense of pacing or drama, and the result is a dreary 105 minutes.

 

 

 

4K/UHD Releases of the Week

Terry Gilliam’s dystopian vision was made in 1985, but its bleak look at a society crushed by an oppressive government might even be more relevant today, in the second era of Trump. Despite its subject matter—our hero ends up being crushed like the bug at the beginning that sets everything in motion—the movie is awash with the brilliantly original visuals that have made Gilliam one of our premier cinematic stylists.

 

 

The 4K image looks superlative, and this set (one UHD, one Blu-ray) ports over numerous extras from Criterion’s three-Blu-ray set: Gilliam’s sparkling commentary; on-set documentary What Is Brazil?; The Battle of Brazil, a one-hour documentary about the friction between Gilliam and Universal Studios; interviews; storyboards; visual essays; and Universal’s 94-minute, mercilessly butchered “Love Conquers All” version of the film that Gilliam disowned and which was only shown in syndication.

 

 

 

Sean Connery 6-Film James Bond Collection 

Debates have gone on for decades about who was the best James Bond; Pierce Brosnan came close with his mixture of sardonic suavity, but the OG, Sean Connery, still reigns supreme, as witness this set of his first six appearances as 007. The movies, of course—1962’s Dr. No, 1963’s From Russia With Love, 1964’s Goldfinger, 1965’s Thunderball, 1967’s You Only Live Twice and 1971’s Diamonds Are Forever (his abortive return in 1983’s Never Say Never Again is mercifully skipped)—remain sniggeringly sexist and offhandedly racist, but Connery’s charisma and a raft of plots, gadgets and guest villains make them as entertaining as ever.

 

 

The films have superb UHD transfers; and the voluminous extras include director and crew commentaries as well as many archival featurettes, interviews, TV ads, and documentaries.

 

The title of Caitlin Sayor Stephens’ Five Models in Ruins, 1981 overexplains the obvious that these models are in ruins both literally (at a rundown mansion in the English countryside, where they will wear the just-married Princess Diana’s discarded wedding gowns for a shoot with a famous American photographer) and figuratively (all five—and the photographer, Roberta—are in various states of emotional distress).

 

There’s arrogant supermodel Chrissy; cynical Tatiana; nervous newbie Grace; sardonic former superstar Alex; and Sandy, an English makeup artist and former model whom Roberta talks into joining the shoot after the fifth model doesn’t show since they’ve worked together before. As everyone prepares for the shoot, dealing with no phone or food (the former maybe, the latter unlikely), they argue, commiserate, battle, bond. The dialogue is lively but superficial, as each woman gets the chance to kvetch about sexually menacing men in the industry or the worst photo shoot of her career.  But none of this makes any of the models truly thought-out and differentiated individuals.

 

Roberta, a driven if cynical industry vet (apparently based on American photographer Deborah Turbeville), comes closest to being fully rounded, and she’s played by Elizabeth Marvel with her usual intensity. As the models, Stella Everett (Chrissy), Maia Novi (Tatiana), Britne Oldford (Alex), Sarah Marie Rodriguez (Grace) and Madeline Wise (Sandy) do what they can with their underwritten characters, but only Everett overcomes Stephens’ script with a performance of imposing physicality and biting humor.

 

Needless to say, Five Models doesn’t build to any kind of apotheosis. Instead it climaxes after Roberta hears from her editor at Vogue that he’s pulling the plug on the shoot and she loses it, letting out a primal scream that the others join until it builds to a clamorous crescendo that’s technically impressive but dramatically ineffectual. Morgan Green adroitly directs on Afsoon Pajoufar’s detailed, cluttered mansion set that, along with Cha See’s ingenious lighting, is a delicious visual asset for an undernourished play. 

In-Theater Releases of the Week 

French writer-director Jonathan Millet makes his feature debut with this tense, intelligent slow-burn thriller about a Syrian refugee in France who one day notices a man who looks like the person who tortured him in the infamous Sednaya Prison in Damascus.

 

 

Hamid (a remarkable portrayal by Adam Messa) works as a construction worker in Strasbourg, but once he sees his adversary, he is obsessed with plans for revenge—how that plays out, and how it affects his life and those around him, is dramatized with finesse by Millet, who demonstrates his sympathy for migrants and others marginalized by society without becoming strident.

 

 

 

Ron Delsener Presents 

Anyone who went to rock concerts in the New York City area since the late ’60s has probably noticed “Ron Delsener Presents” on the ticket—and this entertaining documentary, directed by Sting’s son Jake Sumner follows Delsener’s storied career as a concert promoter, from his early days working on the Beatles’ 1964 appearance in Forest Hills, through concerts at the Fillmore and the Palladium until today: he was 85 and still going strong when this was filmed a few years ago, attending shows and keeping up with whatever he could.

 

 

Sumner not only speaks with Delsener, his wife and children—and shows copious archival footage from many iconic concerts—but also colleagues and an array of stars who touchingly remember his guiding hand, from Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel to Patti Smith and Paul Simon.

 

 

 

Blu-ray Releases of the Week 

Pink Floyd’s 1972 performance at the ancient Roman amphitheater in Pompeii (sans audience) is folded into Adrian Maben’s documentary that’s an artifact of its time, with the Pompeii concert footage supplemented by interviews with Gilmour, Mason, Waters and Wright as well as glimpses of them at Abbey Road recording Dark Side of the Moon.

 

 

There’s a surfeit of crude, cliched visuals (split screens, front projection, superimposition, slow-motion) that haven’t aged well—but the film anticipates the MTV video era and remains an eye- (and ear-) opening document of the band right before becoming rock royalty. The Blu-ray release includes the 85-minute film and the 62-minute concert separately; the hi-def video looks good and the superb audio remixed by Steven Wilson is available in Dolby Stereo, 5.1 TrueHD Surround and ATMOS.

 

 

 

Ann Wilson and Tripsitter—Live in Concert 

In this 2023 concert, Heart lead vocalist Ann Wilson leads her solo band Tripsitter—with which she released an album, Another Door—through a deftly-balanced set of solo songs, well-chosen covers and classic Heart tunes, including the vigorous opener, “Crazy on You,” the band’s first hit. The 16-song set shows that Wilson, even in her mid ’70s, still sings impressively and with little vocal strain.

 

 

Heart’s brooding, mystical “Mistral Wind” and John Lennon’s biting “Isolation” let her alternate between lung-shredding power and exquisite delicacy. Of course, Led Zeppelin, one of Ann and Nancy Wilson’s biggest influences, is never far away: Ann pairs the Heart hit “Alone” with “Going to California,” while a powerhouse “Immigrant Song” is Ann at her vocal best. The hi-def video and the audio are excellent, although only a stereo mix is included.

 

 

 

Prokofiev—War and Peace 

Sergei Prokofiev’s operatic masterpiece distills the essence of Leo Tolstoy’s massive novel about the 1812 war between Napoleon and Russia into an expressive, emotional 3-1/2-hour music drama. Director and set designer of this 2023 Munich production, Dmitri Tcherniakov, nods to the present conflict between invading Russian forces and defending Ukrainian patriots, but that layer doesn’t detract from the powerful musical storytelling at the heart of Prokofiev’s work.

 

 

Vladimir Jurowski deftly conducts the Bavarian State Opera Orchestra and choruses, while the lead roles of Prince Andrei, Natasha and Pierre are strongly embodied by Andrei Zhilikhovsky, Olga Kulchynska and Arsen Soghomonyan. There’s first-rate hi-def video and audio; extras are an interview with Tcherniakov and Jurowski as well as a short featurette.

 

 

 

DVD Release of the Week

Standup comic Drew Carey’s eponymous sitcom ran for nine seasons, from 1995 to 2004, giving audiences an alternative version of his real-life persona as an everyman working a menial job in middle America (in this case, Cleveland).

 

 

Carey and the large cast—including Christa Miller, Kathy Kinney, Craig Ferguson and Ryan Stiles—project a warm appeal that underlines the mild jokes audiences could identify with. All 200-plus episodes are included (excepting four “special” episodes), with some music cues different from the original broadcasts; lone extra is the featurette Life Inside the Cubicle.