Kevin's July '11 Digital Week IV

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Sunday, 24 July 2011 10:00

Written by Kevin Filipski

Blu-rays of the Week
Arthur (Warners)
The very definition of an unnecessary remake foregoes the disarming charm of Dudley Moore in the original for the far less amusing Russell Brand, who’s funny in things like Get Him to the Greek but who can’t carry a movie like this. While Helen Mirren doesn’t have the sublime dryness of John Gielgud, she’s good fun, as is, surprisingly, Jennifer Garner. Too bad Greta Gerwig is already getting repetitious, and much of the time I was missing Moore, Gielgud and even (God help me) Liza Minnelli. This Arthur gets a decent hi-def transfer; extras comprise on-set footage, interviews, a gag reel and deleted scenes.

Beauty and the Beast (Criterion)
Jean Cocteau’s 1946 fantasy is truly a film for the ages; even those entranced by the animated version should watch this to see where Disney borrowed many of the most enchanting images. Josette Day and Jean Marais are perfect in the lead roles, but it’s Cocteau’s visual magic (with an assist from Henri Alkan’s sumptuous photography) that makes this a classic that gets better with each viewing. The restored version Criterion released a few years ago receives a superb Blu-ray upgrade; extras from the previous release include two commentaries, a 1995 documentary, Screening at the Majestic, and the audio of Philip Glass’ dull opera, but why anyone would listen to that instead of Georges Auric’s gorgeous score and the voices of the original actors is a mystery.

Boyz n the Hood (Sony)
John Singleton’s 1991 drama about life in South Central L.A., which deals seriously with living in one of the country’s most dangerous neighborhoods, holds up 20 years later, despite some melodramatic shortcomings. Singleton’s truthful writing, realistic direction and a cast of then-unknowns (Ice Cube, Cuba Gooding, Laurence Fishburne, Angela Bassett) make this a gripping slice of life. The movie looks decent on Blu-ray, but the transfer is a little soft; extras include new interviews with Singleton and the cast, deleted scenes, a making-of featurette and Singleton’s commentary.

Buster Keaton Shorts (Kino)
The latest valuable Kino release of Buster Keaton’s movies on Blu-ray is this three-disc collection of 19 two-reel short films made between 1920-3, including such gems as Hard Luck, The Boat, Cops and The Frozen North. Keaton’s timeless physical comedy should win new adherents thanks to these terrific HD upgrades, even if some visual debris unavoidably remains. Extras include 15 illustrated visual essays, alternate shots/scenes, and four of the shorts presented in their original forms and digitally altered versions.

Don Pasquale (Deutsche Grammophon)
Donizetti’s comic romp, staged for maximum hilarity by Otto Schenk, gets a first-rate workout in this Metropolitan Opera production. Conductor James Levine leads the Met Orchestra and Chorus, along with an exemplary cast led by the always intrepid soprano Anna Netrebko and her excellent co-stars, bass-baritone Mariusz Kwiecien and tenor Matthew Polenzani. Schenk’s colorful staging looks dazzling on Blu-ray (so does Netrebko, of course). Extras are short intermission interviews with the cast.

Limitless (Fox)
A less convoluted Inception, this high-octane thriller stars Bradley Cooper as a struggling writer whose shady ex-brother-in-law gives him a new drug that expands his horizons in many ways, but with disastrous (and dangerous) results. The far-fetched premise is belied by a fast pace that minimizes nagging doubts about believability. The always chameleonic Aussie actress Abbie Cornish and ubiquitous Robert DeNiro give the slickly handsome Cooper solid support, and Neil Burger’s eye-popping visuals translate well to hi-def. Extras include a lame alternate ending, Berger commentary and on-set featurettes.

The Music Room (Criterion)
Bengali director Satyajit Ray, best known for his Apu trilogy, introduced Western audiences to the marvels of Indian cinema. So it’s strange that the first Ray film on Blu-ray is this inferior 1958 drama about a once-wealthy aristocrat whose crumbling world is symbolized by a rundown music room where he once held concerts and parties. Much of this static film is taken over by interminable music-making sequences; the result is a film more important as part of Ray’s filmography than as a drama. The black and white film, while restored, retains a somewhat blurry patina. Extras include a 1981 roundtable discussion with Ray, interviews with director Mira Nair and biographer Andrew Robinson and a two-hour 1984 documentary, Satyajit Ray.

Peep World (MPI)
This dysfunctional family reunion dramedy might have been devastatingly dark if it had delved more deeply into the dynamics of the trio of siblings and their parents at its heart. Instead, we’re treated to nasty but somehow cutely inoffensive swipes in one brother’s first novel, a veiled version of his family. With a sputtering Lewis Black as narrator and Sarah Silverman, Ron Rifkin, Lesley Ann Warren, Michael C. Hall and Rainn Wilson as the feuding family—not to mention marvelous support by Kate Mara, Taraji P. Henson and Judy Greer as the women in the men’s lives—this should have been more biting and bitter. It’s given a solid Blu-ray transfer; extras comprise deleted scenes.

DVDs of the Week
Kate Bush—A Life of Surprises (MVD)
For someone as notoriously publicity shy as Kate Bush, she’s had a lot of television interviews and appearances in England over the years, excerpts from which are shown in this “unauthorized” documentary of Bush’s unique career since she made a splash with “Wuthering Heights” in 1978 at age 19. There are interviews with musicians and journalists (notably ubiquitous BBC vet Paul Gambaccini), but Kate’s musical appearances over the course of this three-hour retrospective, from her debut album The Kick Inside to her last album of new material, 2005’s Aerial, make this a given for Kate’s fans, especially since she never performs live any more.

Omnibus—American Profiles (e one)
This impressive unearthing from the Archive of American Television selects 14 episodes from a biographical series that ran on all three networks successively from 1952 to 1960. The profiles range from humorist James Thurber and novelist William Faulkner to conductor Leonard Bernstein and architect Frank Lloyd Wright. There’s even a segment with Dr. Seuss, Theodore Geisel, who narrates a walk through the “ultimate museum.” Narrated by Alistair Cooke, who also conducts most of the interviews, these Omnibus episodes show off the artistic and cultural bounty once available on network television

Wish Me Luck, Series 3 (Acorn Media)
This British made-for-TV series, originally telecast in 1989, continues the grippingly told true story of English women who were Allied secret agents while France was occupied by the Nazis. These eight hour-long episodes lead up to D-Day, as the London home office gives the spies orders to perform dangerous missions in the hopes that they divert  German attention away from Normandy prior to the June 6 invasion. A top-notch cast is led by Jane Asher (best known as Paul McCartney’s pre-Linda fiancée) as the embattled chief of the home office.

CDs of the Week
Bacewicz—Chamber Music (Deutsche Grammophon)
Ginastera—Cello Concertos (Naxos)
These discs of two of the 20th century’s most underappreciated composers prove that some record companies still release recordings that fill gaps in a shrinking repertoire. The haunting chamber music of Polish composer Grazyna Bacewicz (1909-1969), including her two masterly piano quintets and the forceful 2nd piano sonata, is passionately played by fellow Poles: pianist Krystian Zimerman and a string quartet. Argentine Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983) composed two dramatic cello concertos inspired by his wife, cellist Aurora Natola, both unabashedly modern without embracing atonality or 12-tone complexity. Mark Kosower performs the concertos with controlled intensity, accompanied by conductor Lothar Zagrosek and the Bamberg Symphony.

Cinefantastique Spotlight Podcast: "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2"

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Monday, 18 July 2011 15:11

Written by Daniel Persons

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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Kevin's July '11 Digital Week III

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Monday, 18 July 2011 01:00

Written by Kevin Filipski

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.