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And so it comes to this: one determined, no-longer-a-boy-wizard versus one living incarnation of evil, facing off in a battle to the death. Meanwhile, millions of loving fans watch on, thinking, This is the culmination of all my dreams made real, while a smaller contingent of more critical spectators settle into their theater seats praying that, after ten years of set-up and a preceding film that wasn't much more than an overextended tease,
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 just pays off for all the hours invested. Come join our special guest, Be a Better Booktalker's Andrea Lipinski, as she joins Cinefantastique Online's Steve Biodrowski, Lawrence French, and Dan Persons in a spirited discussion of the grand finale of the Harry Potter saga, and discover whether a mammoth budget, a dedicated director, and a talented cast lead to a worthy send-off.
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Blu-rays of the Week
Bloodrayne: the Third Reich (Phase 4)
Uwe Boll’s video game adaptation about a vampiress who battles the Nazis could have been down and dirty B-movie fun, but in Boll’s leaden hands, there’s little excitement, humor or competent pacing.
It’s too bad, because this could have been good and campy fun. The Blu-ray image is appropriately grainy; extras include commentary by Boll and writer Michael C. Nachoff, a Nachoff interview and a behind-the-scenes featurette.
The Lincoln Lawyer (Lionsgate)
This slickly entertaining courtroom drama, which keeps viewers off-balance by piling on plot twists that actually make sense in context, follows an iconoclastic attorney defending an arrogant rich kid on troubling sexual assault charges.
With a mostly terrific (and terrific-looking) cast led by Matthew McConaughey and Marisa Tomei, this enjoyable lark provides little more than popcorn entertainment. The glossy-looking movie keeps its sheen on Blu-ray; extras include making-of featurettes, interviews and deleted scenes.
Louie—The First Season (Fox)
Louis CK’s comic sensibility is not for everyone, and I must admit that his abrasiveness in this eponymously-titled series is off-putting, even if that is the point. There are uncomfortably funny moments throughout along with moments that are just uncomfortable, with no discernible comic insight.
Still, it’s worth watching, especially if you find his humor is on your wavelength. The Blu-ray image is noticeably sharper than the DVD image on the flip side, not that it matters much; extras include CK’s goofy commentaries, deleted scenes and a behind-the-scene featurette.
Marple and Poirot (Acorn Media)
These Masterpiece Mystery series dramatize Agatha Christie whodunits starring two of her most famous and intrepid detectives: Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot. Julia Mackenzie plays Marple delightfully in this quartet of stories about her discovering killers and other criminals, while David Suchet is almost unrecognizably Belgian as Poirot in the trio of stories featured in that box set.
The stories are still serviceably twisty, and the sumptuous productions help keep the atmosphere of dread popping. The atmospheric mysteries gain immeasurably from their hi-def transfers; there are no Poirot extras, but Marple includes an earlier adaptation of The Pale Horse, a 66-minute documentary, Agatha Christie’s Garden, and behind-the-scenes featurettes.
Miral (Anchor Bay)
You can’t say Julian Schnabel rests on his laurels. After making the brilliant biopic The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, he turns to a pro-Palestinian drama by writer Rula Jebreal. Although the movie deserves plaudits for tackling another side of the Arab-Israeli conflict, the characterizations and politics are too one-dimensional to make an impact.
As Miral, the excellent Freida Pinto (who looks like Jebreal’s twin) can’t overcome the superficiality. Schnabel’s pungent visuals glisten on Blu; extras include a Schnabel/ producer commentary; Schnabel interview; deleted scenes; and a making-of featurette.
Naked (Criterion)
Mike Leigh's least effective film, this blunt and brutal attack against Thatcher-era consumerism in England shows some ugly people doing ugly things to one another; the problem is there’s no insight or poetry, just crass indictment. The actors, led by David Thewlis and the late Katrin Cartlidge, are exemplary, and Leigh’s directing is very fine, but there’s little incisiveness in his scattershot script.
The film’s relentless darkness is well-served on Blu-ray, with extraordinary film grain; extras include a Leigh, Thewlis and Cartlidge commentary, Neil LaBute interview, vintage Leigh interview and Leigh’s hilarious 1987 short, The Short and Curlies.
The Sacrifice (Kino)
Russian master Andrei Tarkovsky died after finishing his 1986 psychological drama that ranks as his most direct assaults on human frailty. Ravaged by war and disease, the protagonist hopes for a peaceful death surrounded by family, but human nature intervenes.
Sven Nykvist’s expressive cinematography perfectly mirrors Tarkovsky’s interiorized character study; Erland Josephson is sublime as the fatally flawed hero. The softness of Tarkovsky’s stunning images and Nykvist’s remarkable photography is seen to great advantage on Blu-ray. A bonus DVD includes Michal Leszczylowski’s documentary Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky, shot during the making of The Sacrifice.
DVDs of the Week
Damages—The Complete 3rd Season (Sony)
ER—The Complete Final Season (Warners)
These releases showcase one drama at its peak and another petering out. The third season of Damages is the most riveting yet, with excellent acting by Glenn Close, Rose Byrne, Lily Tomlin, Campbell Scott, Ted Danson and even Martin Short. The final season of ER is, by contrast, disappointingly routine, with the 22 episodes going through the motions trying to recreate what once made it the pinnacle of all medical dramas.
Damages extras include commentaries, deleted scenes, gag reel, episode introductions and behind-the-scenes featurettes; ER’s special features include deleted scenes and interview panel.
Illegal (Film Movement)
In this tense psychological thriller, Russian émigré Tania protects her teenage son Ivan so much that she sacrifices herself when Belgian police discover she has no identification papers—Ivan escapes while she’s thrown into a detention center. This harrowing journey is director Olivier Masset-Depasse’s heartfelt and articulate plea for justice that, despite dramatic missteps, is helped by Anne Coesens’ devastating central performance.
Paced with crackling urgency and packed with authentic acting down to the tiniest parts, Illegal ends with a reunion that, after so much physical and emotional debasement, is less a happy ending than a needed catharsis. The lone extra is a 20-minute Italian short, Rita.
Orgasm, Inc. (First Run)
Liz Canner’s documentary zeroes in on the female sexual dysfunction “problem” (supposedly 43% of American women have sexual problems, a number the movie debunks) that has convinced women to take pills and undergo genital corrective surgery. Canner’s informative, breezily entertaining film does paint expert Laura Berman as being on the take by the big companies and a font of misinformation.
The film also touches on how our government has allowed the big pharmaceutical companies to tout unnecessary drugs that doctors are writing out piles of prescriptions for. Extras include bonus footage.
CD of the Week
Rautavaara—Summer Thoughts (Ondine)
Einojuhani Rautavaara is best known for operas and orchestral works, so when a chamber music disc comes along, it’s imperative to hear a more intimate side of this legendary Finnish composer. Although the title track is an evocative 1972 piece reworked three years ago (same with the equally haunting April Lines, now bearing the dates 1970/2006), it’s the autobiographical Lost Landscapes (from 2005) that stands out: violinist Pekka Kuusisto and pianist Paavali Jumppanen beautifully perform this account of Rautavaara’s musical “memoir.”
Jumppanen also excels with the 1952 piano suite The Fiddlers, marred only by Kuusisto playing actual folk tunes Rautavaara used before each movement, interrupting the musical flow and making it tough for listeners to hear it as written.
Master Class
Written by Terrence McNally
Directed by Stephen Wadsworth
Starring Tyne Daly, Sierra Boggess, Clinton Brandhagen, Jeremy Cohen, Alexander Silber, Garrett Sorenson
I was prepared to be disappointed by Tyne Daly’s Maria Callas in Master Class because in 1995 Terrence McNally’s play premiered on Broadway with Zoe Caldwell, followed by Patti Lupone, two legendary actresses giving unforgettable performances.
But as indelible as Caldwell and Lupone were, Daly’s best stage appearance yet proves there’s room for other interpretations of the irascible, callous Callas. Her Mama Rose in Gypsy and the mother in Rabbit Hole didn’t prepare us for the wit, smarts and humor she brings to a true acting diva’s most diva-ish role.
Although the play is pretty flimsy, its clever construction and reliance on a powerhouse actress make for a diverting couple of hours. Callas, hosting a master class, puts three young singers through their paces and speaks to the nervous piano accompanist and a non-plussed union stagehand.
But most of the play is taken up by Callas’ monologues, either talking directly to the audience or losing herself in reminiscences about her spotty track record, onstage and backstage, with the opera directors and other men in her life.
These monologues train a spotlight on the diva, and Daly runs with them, superbly aping Callas’ movement, aspect, accent and bearing, showcasing an irrepressible diva who’s past her peak. Along with director Wadsworth, an old pro at staging opera, Daly transforms McNally’s choppy flashbacks of Callas at La Scala or being berated by Aristotle Onassis into true showstoppers.
Although Daly dominates from the get-go, the other performers also shine. Sierra Boggess (the only one to survive the debacle that was The Little Mermaid) shows off a crystalline voice as Callas’ final singing "victim."
Clinton Brandhagen makes the tenor student a worthy adversary, Jeremy Cohen is sympathetic as the pianist and Alexandra Silber reins in the temptation to overplay the comic aspects of Callas’ first student. Rounding out the cast is Garrett Sorenson, who dryly caricatures a disinterested Teamster.
But Master Class is definitely Maria Callas’ story, and Daly memorably presents her as larger-than-life, warts (or calluses) and all.
Master Class
Friedman Theater
252 West 47th Street
New York, NY
mtc-nyc.com
Opened July 7; closes September 4, 2011
Blu-rays of the Week
Das Boot: Extended Director’s Cut
(Sony)
German director Wolfgang Petersen’s exploration of a World War II U-boat crew achieved “classic” status after its 1982 release, but was also shown as a six-hour TV mini-series in Europe. Petersen re-edited footage from both cuts to come up with his 3-½ hour “director’s cut” that’s his preferred version.
Both intimate and epically-scaled, it’s a perfect balance of claustrophobia and expansive battle sequences to satisfy fans of action movies and more modest dramas. The original 2-½ hour feature is also included, and both versions look spectacular on Blu-ray. Extras include a Petersen commentary and several featurettes on the making of the film, its historical background and Petersen’s final cut.
Camille 2000 (Cult Epics)
The Image
(Synapse)
These adult films by Radley Metzger are nicely-photographed trifles that have their felicities (especially The Image’s lovely Paris locations), but are hampered by poor dubbing, less-than-adequate acting and a paucity of erotic moments. (A few explicit instances of fellatio in The Image don’t help.)
Metzger is one of the more celebrated directors from porn’s golden age, but the movies haven’t aged well and drag on to no apparent effect. Both movies have been restored, giving them a sheen they haven’t had since their making in 1969 and 1975. Extras are on-set featurettes and restoration clips.
Dialogues des Carmelites
(BelAir Classiques)
Les Troyens
(Unitel Classica)
Two classic French operas from the 19th and 20th century are seen in unfortunate 2010 stagings. Francois Poulenc’s 1957 masterpiece Dialogues loses much of its tragic power thanks to Dmitri Tcherniakov’s misguided Munich production, while Hector Berlioz’s mythic epic Les Troyens (composed in the mid 1850s) has been turned into a silly Star Wars-like space opera by Spanish director Carlus Padrissa.
Happily, the music of both operas comes through loudly and clearly thanks to superb DTS-HD audio, and there are excellent transfers; no extras on Dialogues, but Troyens includes a making-of featurette.
Hobo with a Shotgun
(Magnet)
Blood and guts literally spurt everywhere in this gleefully inane send-up of sleazy B-movies that follows the title bum as he cleans up the streets of a town surprisingly inundated with violent thugs. Rutger Hauer’s craggy, leathery face is the perfect visual of this over-the-top explosion of mayhem that features inventive ways of offing people, even one stolen from Caligula, of all things.
Molly Dunsworth makes a perky sidekick to Hauer’s dour hero, although good acting isn’t the point. The movie is given a satisfying hi-def transfer; extras include commentaries, making-of featurettes, deleted scenes, alternate ending and interviews.
Of Gods and Men
(Sony)
Xavier Beauvois’ forceful drama is based on the true story of French monks in a remote Algerian village who were kidnapped and killed by terrorists in 1996. This meditative character study shows men living austerely while helping the poor and sick and giving hope to the destitute. When terrorist threats become real, the men must choose to abandon their calling as God’s helpers or return to safety in France.
Smartly refraining from soundtrack music or cross-cutting to heighten suspense or anxiety, Beauvois trusts his material and his audience; the result, while depressing, is spiritually exhilarating. The extraordinary imagery looks glorious on Blu-ray, especially the dazzlingly understated final shots. Extras include a featurette on the real monks and a discussion by two experts.
People on Sunday
(Criterion)
A rare Criterion foray into silent film unearths this 1930 German cross between fiction and documentary, a gem about city slickers who plan a weekend outing in pre-Nazi era Berlin. The behind-the-camera crew, filled with future masters like directors Robert Siodmak and Edgar G. Ulmer, writer Billy Wilder and assistant cinematographer Fred Zinnemann, shows the strength of Germany’s film industry before Hitler.
Criterion’s superlatively restored Blu-ray transfer has nary a scratch or mark; extras include two musical scores, a 2000 documentary about the film, Weekend am Wannsee, and a 35-minute short by the film’s cinematographer Eugen Schufftan, Ins Blaue hinein.
13 Assassins
(Magnet)
Takashi Miike’s remake of Eiichi Kudo’s elegant 1963 black and white film has the requisite amounts of blood (beginning with the opening scene’s hara-kiri), but two-plus hours of unrelieved, vividly colorful bloodletting and samurai battles palls on the viewer; by its end, we’re left with pretty (and pretty violent) imagery, and little else.
The stylish scenes of killing are presented with appropriate clarity on Blu-ray. Extras include a Miike interview and 18 minutes of deleted scenes.
Wake Wood
(Dark Sky)
This short, unsubtle chiller takes its cue from The Wicker Man and Audrey Rose as a grieving couple brings its daughter back thanks to the pagan ritual practiced in the small village they move to after her death.
Although the thrills are borrowed from earlier and better sources, the accomplished cast and director David Keating’s unerring eye (this is one of the best-looking Blu-ray transfers I’ve yet seen) smooth over what’s redundant or routine, including the risible final stare at the camera. Deleted scenes are the lone extra.
DVDs of the Week
Lulu
(Arthaus Musik)
Parsifal
(Unitel Classica)
These classic productions of two great operas are finally released on DVD. The 2003 Zurich staging of Alban Berg’s horrifying Lulu might be the incomplete version, but soprano Laura Aikin makes a riveting anti-heroine, even handling the not so gratuitous nudity with aplomb.
Wolfgang Wagner’s 1999 staging of his grandfather’s final opera, Parsifal, at the Wagner shrine in Bayreuth is dramatically deficient but visually stunning; terrific singers like Paol Elming, Linda Watson and Falk Struckmann are accompanied by glorious musicmaking by the orchestra and conductor Giuseppe Sinopoli.
One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich
(Icarus Films)
Chris Marker’s lovely eulogy for his good friend, Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky, who died in 1986 of cancer, is one of three remarkable Russian-themed documentaries on this disc.
Also included are Three Songs About Motherland, Marina Goldovskaya’s intimate chronicle of modern Russia still dealing with its tortured past, and In the Dark, director Sergey Dvortsevoy’s moving film about a blind old man, living with his cat in a tiny Moscow apartment, who weaves baskets to hand out to complete strangers on the street.
Yesspeak (MVD)
This documentary about one of the most accomplished progressive rock bands was made during the 2003 reunion tour that brought together singer Jon Anderson, guitarist Steve Howe, bassist Chris Squire, keyboardist Rick Wakeman and drummer Alan White for the band’s 35th anniversary. Roger Daltrey narrates an interesting three-hour history with a short detour for each of the five members. (Trevor Rabin, who masterminded the band’s biggest hit years, Tony Kaye and Bill Bruford are out of luck.)
Although the concert’s musical numbers are only excerpted, a bonus is the entire concert in Dolby 5.1 audio, so fans can hear full versions of “I’ve Seen All Good People,” “The South Side of the Sky” and “Roundabout.”
CD of the Week
Strauss: Don Juan/Metamorphosen/Songs
(Avie)
As this new disc demonstrates, Richard Strauss (who died in 1949 at age 85) was composing works in his old age as substantial as those he wrote as the new enfant terrible in late 19th century Vienna.
Paired are his boisterous early tone poem, 1889’s Don Juan and Metamorphosen, his reflective post-war meditation from 1945, both played by the solid Strasbourg Philharmonic (only the string section on the latter) under conductor Jan Latham-Koenig.
In between, nine typically luscious songs from early in his career are sung with richness by soprano Joan Rogers accompanied by Latham-Koenig on piano.