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“CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON”
“FOR ALL MANKIND: THE CRITERION COLLECTION”
"DISCOVERY CHANNEL: SHARK WEEK: THE GREAT BITES COLLECTION"
Blu-ray widescreen and DVD widescreen, 2008, not rated
Best extra: The truckload of commentaries (two each for 13 episodes), offer about as thorough a look behind the inner workings of a show as humanly possible.
WHAT MAKES DON DRAPER tick, the mysterious lothario/family man at the center of "Mad Men"? That's one of the tantalizing questions answered on this season's multi-award winning series. A slowly unfolding portrayal of the early sixties in all its cigarette smoking, alcohol swilling glory, it examines cultural/personal shifts and inward/outward appearances with flair unlike other any show.
Season two didn't disappoint: long-suffering housewife Betty Draper (January Jones), faced with husband Don's infidelities, leapt from a blissful childlike serenity to rebellious adolescence. Meanwhile, young, sexually liberated office worker Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) evened the playing field in an era rife with sexism. Like a chess game, "Mad Men" positions its participants carefully, yielding several payoffs for careful observers.
The gorgeous Blu-ray picture and sound is a welcome sight, especially since my satellite provider doesn’t broadcast the series in HD. The depth and sharpness is evident in the costumes; the smallest details of a tweed overcoat are displayed during the first episode, which takes place on and around Valentine’s Day.
The hi-def supplemental material is worthy of such an intricately plotted show. Featurettes on fashion and a two-part look at women's push for equality (running nearly 45- minutes) add helpful context, while the "Time Capsule" that spans the three Blu-ray discs or the four DVDs provides footage and discussion of important historical events.
And to really keep you occupied, there's multiple commentaries for each episode from writers and cast. "I had really used up all I wanted to talk about in the first season," creator Matthew Weiner says regarding the challenge of new storylines. That challenge appears to be solved, as the show continues into its third season in mid-August.
— Carl Hott/Bill Kelley III
Blu-ray widescreen and DVD widescreen, 2009, PG-13 for some intense sequences of terror and disturbing images
Best extra: “The Fear is Real: Reinvestigating the Haunting,” Parts 1 and 2
BASED LOOSELY on the Snedeker family’s ordeal in a former funeral home in upstate Connecticut, this movie has its scary moments, some understated acting and some twists on archetypes, i.e. the exorcising priest becomes a widowed, heretic reverend.
But the most interesting thing about the Blu-ray and its myriad high-definition bonus features are the ones based on fact, including the mini-documentary on the real family’s experiences in the house, a brief history of Memento Mori, postmortem photography in the U.S. in the 19th and 20th centuries, and a look at the anatomy of a haunting with two paranormal experts.
This Blu-ray disc also contains the theatrical and unrated versions of the movie. The unrated one contains a couple different scenes, one of which is extended and a bit gory, while the other plays out in color as opposed to black-and-white in the theatrical release. As for the sound and picture quality, the music is eerie and the sound adds to the suspense as weird things, high-definition zombies of sorts, pop on and off the screen.
Add six deleted scenes with optional director commentary, the HD trailer, a making-of featurette and two commentaries, one with the director Peter Cornwell and co-writer Adam Simon, and another with Cornwell and actors Virginia Madsen (Sara Campbell) and Kyle Gallner (Matt Campbell), and you should be riveted to your seat for a few hours.
— Toni Guagenti
Blu-ray widescreen and DVD widescreen, 2007, R for some sexuality, language and disturbing war images
Best extra: A chummy commentary between director John Maybury ("The Jacket") and Welsh actor Matthew Rhys provides as many laughs as behind-the-scenes anecdotes as they drink their way through the film.
PENNED BY Keira Knightley's mother, Sharman Macdonald, "The Edge of Love" tells of the love triangle between Welsh poet, Dylan Thomas, his wife (Sienna Miller), and a singer (Knightley) during World War II. Their idyllic relationship is challenged when the singer marries a soldier (Cillian Murphy). While Matthew Rhys, known primarily for his role as the gay sibling on the ABC series "Brothers and Sisters," turns in a nuanced performance as Thomas, the girls steal the spotlight.
"Edge" was filmed in both 35mm and on the Genesis HD Camera, which Bryan Singer used for "Superman Returns." The highly stylized film (there's a shot that looks up through a puddle of urine) is presented beautifully in hi-def, with vivid colors and remarkable detail. Knightley and Miller have never looked lovelier. Equally impressive is the disc's uncompressed soundtrack, which fans of Angelo Badalamenti's will eat up. His moving score as well as the songs performed by Knightley (yep, that's her singing) make as much of an impression as the exploding rockets.
The remaining extras are slim and disappointing with a featurette running under 10-minutes and a blooper reel (odd for such a heavy film) presented in standard-def. The commentary is worth a listen, although it, too, often descends into a love-fest for the actors. Maybury and Rhys are very funny together; whether they're gossiping about a day Miller arrived exhausted to set because she had been out partying the night before to jokingly referring to the film as a low budget remake of "Atonement."
— Josh Boone
“CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON”
Blu-ray widescreen, 2003, PG-13 for martial arts violence and some sexuality
Best extra: Feature length commentary from director Ang Lee and writer/producer James Schamus
ANG LEE’S MARTIAL arts historical fantasy is now available in Blu-ray, packaged in a three disc set that also contains the re-release of “Curse of the Golden Flower” and “House of Flying Daggers.”
CTHD is one of those films that transcends its genre. Emphasis is on characterization and storytelling rather than action, although the martial arts scenes are legendary. It follows the story of Jen (Ziyi Zhang), the young daughter of a wealthy family. She has secretly become a martial arts talent, although her youth and pride may set her on a dark path. Master Li Mu Bai (Yun-Chow Fat) and Yu Shu Lein (Michelle Yeoh) represent the forces of good when Jen takes time to observe. That doesn’t come often.
CTHD’s new high-def presentation looks good. Color is striking, especially in those long shots, landscapes and costumes, such as Jen’s first entrance in those spectacular robes. Lee tells us in commentary that it took four seamstresses three months to embroider them; we can see almost every stitch. Detail is much sharper, too, as opposed to that found on “Curse” and “Daggers,” despite being filmed in the Super 35 widescreen process.
The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack delivers on dialogue and the score by Tan Dun, which features performances from Yo-Yo Ma. Still, the surround sound effect never really shines, save for a few scenes towards the end. That’s a shame because there are many opportunities to use sense of movement.
As for extras, there’s good stuff to learn from Lee and Schamus, even when Schamus behaves like an ugly Hollywood know-it-all. A making-of feature and interview with Yeoh, who discusses her career and character in CTHD, round out the specials.
There are no surprises regarding the older releases. “Curse of the Golden Flower” is quite good in Blu-ray, but “House of Flying Daggers” needs a re-do. Color is strong but detail is uneven. Still, for now, if you want CTHD on Blu-ray, this three-movie set is the only way to go stateside. But for you internet explorers, CTHD can be purchased by itself via U.K. online retailers for less than $25, including shipping. No worry, it plays on your U.S. Blu-ray player.
— Mike Reynolds
Blu-ray widescreen, 1974, PG
Best extra: Ten featurettes of varying lengths provide interviews with cast and crew, mini-documentaries on both disaster producer Irwin Allen and writer Sterling Silliphant, and an AMC Back Story making-of.
RELEASED 35 YEARS ago, “The Towering Inferno” can still make palms sweat and throats dry up, especially in its new Blu-ray incarnation. The transfer is very clean; color is superb and detail is sharp. The DTS HD audio is outstanding, providing a great balance between dialogue and effects. How refreshing not to be blasted out of the living room by explosions.
Irwin’s story – like his former success, “The Poseidon Adventure – is simple. San Francisco’s tallest skyscraper catches fire during its grand opening. The massive, state of the art building is set up like the Titanic. Nothing like this should be happening, but we discover unscrupulous contractors played by William Holden and Richard Chamberlain have undermined architect Paul Newman’s design specs. So it’s up to fire chief Steve McQueen to rescue characters played by Faye Dunaway, Robert Wagner, Robert Vaughan, Jennifer Jones, Fred Astaire – even O.J. Simpson – while the building burns around them.
The movie was a breakthrough on various levels. Based on bestsellers “The Glass Inferno” and “The Tower,” the stories helped alert the public to potential safety hazards in high rise buildings. Everyone knew not to use an elevator during a fire. The film was mentioned repeatedly in the aftermath of 9/11.
In his documentary, Allen recounts how he wanted the rights to “The Tower,” except Warner Bros. beat him to it. Shortly afterward, Allen won the rights to “The Glass Inferno” for 20th Century Fox. He then convinced the studios to pool their resources to make one film and reap the rewards, which they did – in the millions. The movie also won three Academy awards (cinematography, editing and best song, “We’ll Never Love This Way Again”).
Commentaries and features are full of anecdotes, particularly about McQueen’s competition with Newman. Oscar-winning writer Stirling Silliphant (“In The Heat of the Night”) was hired to combine the books into a script. McQueen wanted 12 more lines of dialogue to balance Newman’s. Silliphant was called back from vacation in Bermuda to oblige – and McQueen still complained.
We also learn that “Jack In the Box” was Allen’s favorite restaurant; Astaire dressed like a million and spent most of his spare time on set with the crew and extras; and that Bill Holden was a peach of a guy – except for the day he slammed Dunaway up against a wall for repeated tardiness. Apparently, Faye kept on schedule for several months afterward.
The Blu-ray offers dozens of extras, much of which is carried over from the 2006 collector’s DVD. They include commentary from film historian F.X. Feeney and scene specific commentary from FX director Mike Vezina (“X-Men”) and stunt coordinator Branko Racki (“The Day After Tomorrow”). Also find galleries, 34 deleted and extended scenes, and vintage promotional material.
Recommended.
— Mike Reynolds
“FOR ALL MANKIND: THE CRITERION COLLECTION”
Blu-ray full-screen and DVD full-screen, 1989, not rated
Best extras: Both the making-of documentary and the running commentary give key background facts and history conspicuously absent from the film itself.
FORTY YEARS AGO this week, Neil Armstrong's Apollo 11 moonwalk in 1969 became the most famous moment in the U.S. space program's long history. But it's only one piece of a much larger whole. That's a void filmmaker Al Reinert filled two decades later with the documentary "For All Mankind."
The film focuses on pivotal moments in the Apollo program, shifting fluidly from the personnel in command and control, the astronauts heading to the launch pad or floating in the cockpit, and the vast, breathtaking reaches of space. Its strength lies in the high-definition digital transfer (we only received the DVD edition), a considerable improvement to Criterion's last DVD in 1999. It's an undeniable thrill to see the images from space as astronauts first saw them, or in looking over Gene Kranz's shoulder as the Apollo 13 mission started to fall apart.
But for all of its historical splendor, the film's biggest weakness is its lack of context or explanation. Reinert makes the confusing decision to bounce between missions at will, instead of presenting them in chronological order. Nor are any astronauts in the film identified, whether shown onscreen or speaking on the audio track. Luckily, the DVD now offers a captioning feature that identifies all the astronauts and important personnel as they appear.
The commentary from the 1999 DVD by filmmaker Al Reinert and Eugene Cernan, who in 1972 was the last man to walk on the moon, is included. Reinert questions Cernan on historical firsts, while Cernan paints a picture of the marvels of space travel. The purpose of most of the original rocket footage, Cernan says, was not to capture the imagery for posterity but to monitor the flight's progress. The heat-shielded film canisters, he explains, were dropped from the rockets and later recovered in the ocean.
A making-of documentary, "An Accidental Gift," outlines how Reinert tried to obtain more comprehensive images than the stock ones used by the press at the time, while "NASA Audio Highlights" features short mission audio clips ranging from Freedom 7 to Cernan's prophetic "last step" of Apollo 17. For completists, there's launch footage from Mercury to Skylab and a gallery of paintings of missions from astronaut Alan Bean. There's also a collection of 15 astronaut on-camera interviews collected from various sources.
— Carl Hott
DVD widescreen, 2008, rated PG-13 for violence and drug references
Best extra: None
PRODUCED AND DIRECTED by Nikita Mikhalkov (“Burnt By the Sun”), “12” is a reinterpretation of the classic “12 Angry Men.” In this case, the jury deliberates over the innocence or guilt of a young Chechen teenager accused of murdering his Russian stepfather. After 11 of the 12 vote “guilty,” the one dissenter forces the others to look more closely at the evidence, as well as at the motivations behind their hasty decisions. One by one, each tells his own compelling story. Mikhalkov plays the jury foreman who takes the film in a somewhat different direction from its predecessor.
At 160 minutes, watching 12 guys in a room may sound like it would be way too long, but the intelligent dialogue and fine acting are certain to keep viewers riveted.
— Peggy Earle
DVD widescreen, 1962, unrated
Best extra: A retrospective documentary with interviews with star Kirk Douglas, co-star Gena Rowland and others.
FILMMAKER STEVEN SPIELBERG says he loves it, while legendary actor Kirk Douglas considers it one of his favorite roles. But the greatest praise comes from Douglas’ son Michael, who puts it at the top of his dad’s 80-plus movies. The three reminisce during a 20-minute documentary, highlighting stories from this nearly forgotten modern-day western.
Douglas plays loner cowboy Jack Burns, trapped in a complex post World War II world in the high country of New Mexico. He still doesn’t own a car; his horse is his only transportation as he heads to Albuquerque to visit his best friend in jail. His approach to the visit isn’t orthodox, Burns wants to get arrested and then plan an escape for himself and his friend Paul Bondi (Michael Kane), who’s being held for helping Mexicans to crossing the border. Bondi is against the plan, so Burns is on his own. After his escape, he heads to the mountains on his horse, with Sheriff Johnson (Walter Matthau) and Deputy Gutierrez (George Kennedy) hot on the trail and using the latest technology.
The black and white movie was beautifully photographed by Philip Lathrop as it makes its first appearance on DVD, part of the Universal Backlot Series. It’s clean and sharp, topping the old laser disc version in my collection but clearly no match for Blu-ray. Hopefully, the hi-def disc won’t take another dozen years to show up.
— Bill Kelley III
DVD widescreen, 2008-2009, not rated, contains action violence, some language
Best extra: Episode commentaries.
YOU’D ALMOST EXPECT this TNT series to be broadcast on USA. “Leverage” is loaded with seriously engaging characters in film-quality action/drama/humor: Former insurance investigator/mastermind Nathan Ford (Timothy Hutton), enforcer Eliot Spencer (Christian Kane), super hacker Alec Hardison (Aldis Hodge), thief Parker (Beth Riesgraf) and grifter Sophie Devereaux (Gina Bellman).
Executive producer/director Dean Devlin was inspired by classic con artist films such as “The Sting,” “The Usual Suspects” and “Ocean’s Eleven.” But there’s a lot of “A-Team” and “Mission Impossible” in these hustles. “Everyone has a specialty,” he says in a featurette, “Leverage: Behind the Scenes.”
And viewers get to see them all.
It’s Robin Hood with a razor edge. Nathan, the down-on-his-luck-and-spirit good guy, used to capture these bad guys and gals who represent the most fiercely talented of their skill set. Tables have a way of turning, however, and he becomes the con artiste who grifts corrupt CEOs and others to help the poor schmucks who’ve been ripped off.
Like you or I. The kind of folk who just get buried in paperwork and debt. Hence the name of their corporation: “Leverage.”
Bonus features include the superb 56-minute pilot which originally aired commercial free. (We won’t get that again except on DVD. It’s now been cut to 43-minutes when broadcast on TNT.) It engages and leaves you hankering to know what happens next. Commentary and deleted/extended scenes are sprinkled throughout this four-disc, 13 episode set. The one puzzle is that it’s not available in Blu-ray, especially with a feature about the high-def cameras used in filming. What gives, Paramount?
If you love shows like “Burn Notice” and “Dexter,” don’t miss “Leverage.”
Highly recommended!
— Mike Reynolds
"DISCOVERY CHANNEL: SHARK WEEK: THE GREAT BITES COLLECTION"
Blu-ray widescreen and DVD widescreen, 2009, not rated
Best extra: The Blu-ray contains six HD Discovery Channel programs, plus three standard-definition shark-week programs, including two "Dirty Jobs" shark episodes
LEAVE IT TO THE Discovery Channel to reel you in every year with its week-long extravaganza on sharks. Instead of waiting for it to air annually, you can relive some of those moments with the "Great Bites Collection," which is mainly in high-def.
From "Dirty Jobs" to "Mythbusters," the "Shark Week" compilation is fascinating for those who are smitten by “Jaws” or curious about our planet’s underwater predators.
Mind you, the six episodes sometimes contradict each other, like when "Mythbusters" tells you to hold still in the water if you’re ever abandoned in the ocean with sharks breathing down your neck, while "Surviving Sharks" shows that swimming and getting away from a shark if there is a ship nearby will save your life, not floating around. Either way, the point is never to be in that situation.
From viewing the Greenland shark to studying the changing shark environment in northeast Australia, this one-disc shark bonanza should hold your attention for hours.
— Toni Guagenti
DVD widescreen, 2008, TV-PG
Best extra: “Grey Gardens: Then & Now”
WHOA. THAT’S what you’ll probably say to yourself in the first few seconds of “Grey Gardens: Then & Now” an extra on the DVD of the HBO film “Grey Gardens.” The film itself is the dramatized version of a 1975 documentary about “Big Edie” and “Little Edie” Bouvier Beale — eccentric relatives of Jackie O. who were once Park Avenue elite, only to fill out their last days in a decaying mansion in the Hamptons surrounded in squalor.
Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore creep instantly into your heart with their emotional, penetrating performances, but you’re not really sure of the extent of their skill until you watch that special feature. (It’s one of only two; the other is audio commentary with the producers.) In the feature, footage from the original documentary is contrasted against the performance, with the actors and producers talking about the process of turning a documentary into a movie. The feature allows us to see just how brilliant the performances — especially Barrymore’s — really were, and suggests that the movie might re-ignite the documentary as a cult favorite once again.
— Malcolm Venable
DVD full-screen, 1987-88, unrated
Best extra: Alternate endings for the episode "The Hucksters"
HE’S JUST A GOOD old country boy from North Carolina, a slow talking technophobe, full of down-home charm – who eats unprepared prosecutors for lunch and picks his teeth with their bones. For $100,000.00 a go. Minimum.
No one knows where his money goes. Certainly not on his back; Matlock wore the same suit for nine years. Still, if the local constabulary is convinced that you plugged Uncle Bob for the family silver (and you can get your hands on a hundred grand) you'd better get a hold of Ben Matlock.
Six discs, 23 episodes of Andy Griffith's second season playing his favorite character, from CBS/Paramount.
— Mike Reynolds
DVD widescreen, 1986, unrated, but contains nudity and sexual situations
Best extra: None
THIS BIZARRE, very funny, often shocking French comedy stars Gerard Depardieu as a thief who sort of adopts a down-on-their-luck unhappily married couple to be his accomplices. Why? Because he’s irresistibly attracted to the pretty wife’s mousey little husband. As the three break and enter a series of fancy houses and apartments, Bob (Depardieu) is continually trying to convince Antoine (Michel Blanc) to be his lover – while the wife (Miou-Miou) tries, occasionally successfully, to do the same to Bob. Nothing is sacred in this outrageous story, which is definitely not for everyone – and definitely for adults only.
— Peggy Earle
DVD full-screen, 1974, not rated
Best extra: There is an excerpt, with English subtitles, from the documentary “Marco Ferreri: The Director Who Came From the Future,” which is a good, no-nonsense look at Ferreri, who had a vision for “Don’t Touch the White Woman” and stuck to it.
YOU HAVE TO be several things to really, really enjoy “Don’t Touch the White Woman”: a person who loves film (not just your weekend-opening, multiplex-style blockbuster), a student of history and a western fan. “White Woman,” or “Touche Pas a la Femme Blanche,” is a surreal interpretation of Gen. George Custer and the Battle of the Little Bighorn set in modern-day Paris. Oh, and it helps to be a bit of a political science person, too.
Marcello Mastroianni is Custer, Richard Nixon is the American president, Alain Cuny is Sitting Bull and Catherine Deneuve is Marie-Hélène de Boismonfrais, a socialite that Custer has his eye on. Sitting Bull defends his people when their apartment buildings are destroyed by the Union Calvary. The historic battle between Custer and the Indians takes place in a huge construction excavation, the former site of a popular market.
In an eclectic twist on history, the language used in the film that justifies the battle between Custer and Sitting Bull is the same language used to justify the Vietnam War. Like I said, you have to be several things, have several distinct characteristics in order to enjoy this French-Italian film.
— Cliff Redding
DVD full-screen, 1964-1965, unrated
Best extra: None
SHOUT FACTORY presents the much talked about “Part Two” of the long running “Peyton Place.” This show aired in a soap opera format without “seasons” or repeats – just new half-hour stories of the folks who lived in town. Characters were played by a young and winning Mia Farrow, Ryan O’Neal, Dorothy Malone and Barbara Perkins. Plotlines cover murder, madness and innocence lost, all the stuff of the must-watch serial.
It seems dated now, but it’s easy to see how folks can get caught up in these things. This box set includes 33 episodes on five discs.
— Mike Reynolds
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