VOD/Virtual Cinema Releases of the Week 

(Picturehouse)

Director Marco Pontecorvo—the great filmmaker Gillo Pontecorvo’s son—has made a satisfying dramatization of the apparition of the Virgin Mary seen by Lucia and two other children in Portugal in 1917 and its many ramifications.

By giving equal weight to skepticism (through the characters of Lucia’s mother, the local mayor and—in a 70-years-later subplot—a professor who debates Lucia, now an elderly nun) and belief, and visually differentiating them without copying Terrence Malick’s inspired mysticism, Pontecorvo’s well-made anti-spectacle is anchored by excellent performances: Alba Baptista as Lucia’s mother, Harvey Keitel as the layman, Sonia Braga as Lucia the nun and Stephanie Gil, a fantastic child actor, as the young Lucia.

The Andorra Hustle 

(Merola Productions)

In a fearless bit of cinematic reportage, Eric Merola balances voluminous evidence and insightful interviews with the principals to explain what took down the national bank of the tiny European principality of Andorra: the Spanish government covertly pulled the strings to stop the Catalan independence movement in its tracks.

Merola lays out in detail and with the calm clarity of a topnotch detective how this was done with approval by authorities in Europe and—of course—the United States. A special shout-out goes to the defense lawyers trying against imposing odds to clear innocent clients, who deposited their savings in the bank but are unable to retrieve it.

Apocalypse ’45 

(Discovery/Abramorama)

In time for the 75th anniversary of the end of the war in the Pacific, director Erik Nelson has taken newly discovered and restored color footage—as U.S. forces had the Japanese on the run, culminating in victories at Iwo Jima and Okinawa, incendiary bombing of Japanese cities and dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki—and made a fascinating, you-are-there historical document.

Throughout we hear the voices of those who were there, two dozen veterans of the Greatest Generation giving their observations and memories of those victorious days; fittingly, Nelson gives the last 10 minutes over to their faces and names, a most deserved honor.

Jimmy Carter—Rock & Roll President 

(CNN Films)

In the late ‘70s, California governor Jerry Brown was America’s hippest politician, dating Linda Ronstadt and hanging out with Jackson Browne and the Eagles. But, as director Mary Wharton shows in this breezily engaging portrait, President Jimmy Carter was our music lover-in-chief, whether gospel, jazz, rock, country or classical. Carter hosted concerts at the White House starring Sarah Vaughan, Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon, Loretta Lynn, Jimmy Buffett, Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash, and had White House visits from Crosby Stills & Nash and even benefit concerts by the Allman Brothers.

Along with showing their performances, Wharton interviews many of them, including an unusually talkative Bob Dylan; some (like Nile Rodgers and Rosanne Cash) even taking their turns reading Carter’s homespun poetry. Carter, now age 95, speaks lucidly and honesty about his kinship with music and musicians. The film won’t make viewers reconsider his one-term presidency, but his openness to all people, cultures and our shared humanity is on display.

Blu-ray Releases of the Week 

Caro Diario/Dear Diary 

(Film Movement Classics)

Nanni Moretti’s 1994 triptych comprises episodes that vary widely in amusement and dramatic interest while representing the states of the filmmaker/narrator’s mind, from the zesty (“On My Vespa,” with Moretti motoring around Rome) to the negligible (“Islands”—unfortunately the longest—about an island where parents let children run things) and the deadly serious (“Doctors,” recounting Moretti’s harrowing cancer treatment).

The tone wavers uneasily throughout, not surprisingly, but Moretti has always had a light touch that helps the film—and viewers—through some of the rougher spots. There is a terrific new hi-def transfer; extras are an on-set featurette and a deleted scene.

Einstein’s Universe 

(Corinth Films)

This 1979 documentary written and conceived by Nigel Carter (which originally aired on BBC, the  PBS) aims to make Albert Einstein’s genius accessible to the average viewer, so it has British actor Peter Ustinov as our narrator/tour guide of sorts, being alternately dazzled and bewildered by the astonishing variety of Einstein’s studies.

Of the many onscreen scientists, some are better than others at speaking in plain English about such abstruse subjects; there are also a few ill-conceived sequences of Ustinov partaking in wacky visualizations of some of Einstein’s theories. There’s a fine new hi-def transfer.

Kentucky Kernels 

(Warner Archive)

This mild, dated 1934 comedy one historical claim to fame: it’s George Stevens’ solo directorial debut. Yes, the director of Giant, The Diary of Anne Frank and The Greatest Story Ever Told got his start with a creaky vehicle for then-famed comic duo of Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey—along with a very young (and pre-Little Rascals) Spanky McFarland, who steals the show as the rambunctious orphan who’s the catalyst for what little plot there is.

It’s all relatively painless and, at 74 minutes, mercifully short. There’s an excellent new hi-def transfer of this slight black-and-white non-classic; extras are a vintage short and cartoon.

CD Release of the Week

Missy Mazzoli—Proving Up 

(Pentatone)

For her third operatic collaboration with librettist Royce Vavbrek, composer Missy Mazzoli has taken a short story by Karen Russell about a family of 19th century midwestern homesteaders and turned it into a spectrally eerie, dramatically dynamic one-acter.

With superlative performances and remarkably agile playing from the International Contemporary Ensemble, Proving Up proves that Mazzoli can make opera classic and contemporary simultaneously—especially when the supernatural aspect arrives, entirely naturally and with beautifully and hauntingly atmospheric music. 

VOD/Virtual Cinema Releases of the Week 

(Kino Marquee)

There’s a lot of talent in front of writer-director Jeanne Balibar’s camera—including herself—but her painfully leaden comedy backfires, as its jaundiced look at local politics is so heavyhanded that any laughs or insights are buried.

Wasted are Bulle Ogier, Mathieu Amalric and most of all Emmanuelle Beart, who is game as the newly-elected mayor who has difficulties implementing her campaign promises—which include things like Brioche Day—but the actress is defeated by Balibar’s forced whimsy and uncertain tone throughout. 

Made in Italy 

(Topic/First Look Media)

This frivolously entertaining series that goes behind the scenes at a Milan fashion magazine in the mid-'70s is a showcase for the charming Italian actress Greta Ferro, who plays Irene, a novice who has to juggle her newfound independence and likeminded colleagues with her dull boyfriend and old-fashioned father and mother.

This eight-part series balances Irene’s personal and professional lives with aplomb if a little too patly, and the glimpses of a changing world outside her window—strikes, terrorism, etc.—doesn’t really add or subtract much of anything. Good support comes from the redoubtable Margherita Buy as one of Irene’s superiors in the office.

4K Releases of the Week 

(Warner Bros)

Tim Burton’s cartoonish 1988 black comedy is remembered for Michael Keaton’s insane turn as a bio-exorcist for the afterlife; amazingly, Keaton is barely in a film whose 90 silly but funny minutes are taken up by a solid cast of comic actors and straight men and women—Catherine O’Hara, Geena Davis, Winona Ryder, Alec Baldwin, Jeffrey Jones, even Robert Goulet and Dick Cavett.

Of course, Burton’s splendidly skewered visuals are on vivid display, especially in ultra hi-def. Too bad the only extras are three episodes of an animated spinoff series. 

The Goonies 

(Warner Bros)

This 1985 Steven Spielberg-produced adventure about a group of nerdy teens overcoming the bad guys in their small Oregon town has become a cult film yet remains loud, obnoxious, repetitive, juvenile and for the most part unfunny.

Richard Donner’s frantic direction can’t hide the gaps in Chris Columbus’ script and Spielberg’s own cutesy attitudinizing smothers the game young cast, including Corey Feldman, Josh Brolin, Kerri Green and Martha Plimpton. The film looks impressive in 4K; many extras include commentaries, deleted scenes, a vintage making-of featurette and the music video for Cyndi Lauper’s hit title song. Too bad the recent Zoom reunion of cast and creators wasn’t included at the last minute (but you can find it on YouTube).

Blu-ray Releases of the Week 

(Warner Bros)

I didn’t even know there was a Deep Blue Sea 2, but here’s another sequel about murderous sharks—what other kind are there?—this time genetically programmed to hunt, kill and eat, which of course puts in peril the workers at a research center in the middle of the ocean.

There are nice underwater sequences, but pitting the good guys vs. the bad guys above water is hopelessly contrived, and the climax is not the dynamic destruction this kind of movie thrives on. There’s a very good Blu-ray transfer and two making-of featurettes.

Rusalka 

Der Messias 

(Opus Arte)

British soprano Sally Matthews makes a shimmering tragic heroine in Antonin Dvořák’s lovely fantasy opera Rusalka, given an elegant production by Melly Still at last summer’s Glyndebourne Festival in England; conductor Robin Ticciati leads the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Glyndebourne Chorus in a gorgeous reading of Dvořák’s score.

Handel’s classic Messiah—arranged by none other than Mozart—is called Der Messias in this performance from Salzburg, Austria (Mozart’s hometown), early this year. Music and singers are stellar, but the unfortunate staging is by Robert Wilson, whose austere minimalist visual aesthetic transforms the work into static dullness. Both discs have excellent hi-def audio and video; Rusalka has a short making-of.

DVD Release of the Week 

(CBS/Paramount)

The elite Bravo team is back for its latest high-stakes adventures, starting with a top-secret—and hugely dangerous—mission to Serbia before other deployments in North Yemen, Iran, Liberian, Indonesia and, lastly, Afghanistan.

For 20 episodes, the members of the team (led by Jason Hayes, played with stolid intensity by David Boreanz) must balance the difficulties of their chosen profession with the very real demands of loved ones back home, and if it’s all entirely predictable, the excitement of the action sequences compensate. Extras comprise four on-set featurettes.

CD Release of the Week

Walter Kaufmann—Chamber Works 

(Chandos)

Even among Eastern European composers whose careers—or their very lives—were destroyed by the Nazis, Walter Kaufmann and his story stand out: born in Czechoslovakia in 1907, Kaufmann moved to Bombay, India, once Hitler came to power and spent the war years there before ending up in Canada, where he conducted the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra; he finished his career in Bloomington at Indiana University’s School of Music, where his archive—most of the scores of his works are still uncataloged—is held.

Five world premiere recordings of his chamber works (all composed in India) paint a fascinating portrait of an eclectic and serious composer: hints of Eastern music are heard among the standard western classical works of string quartet (two), violin sonata, violin sonatina, and a striking septet for piano and strings. The ARC Ensemble plays impeccably.