A week of wartime movies

DVDs for July 26 by Boo Allen

This week, we begin in wartime:

Winter in Wartime (***)
This exquisitely photographed Dutch film takes place in January, 1945, when World War Two neared an end, and Germans troops still occupied an increasingly fretful Holland. When an English pilot (Jamie Campbell Bower) crash lands in a nearby forest, young Michiel (Martijn Lakemeier) finds himself unwittingly caring for the injured soldier. Before long, the boy’s family also becomes unknowingly involved. Director Martin Koolhoven makes the most of the material from Jan Terlouw’s highly popular 1972 novel, with script by Paul Jan Nelissen. Koolhoven renders a beautiful yet harrowing sequences of confrontations, chases, and human dramas.
Rated R, 103 minutes. The DVD includes a 24 minute “making of” featurette.

Leon Morin, Priest (***)
In another film looking at life during wartime, the Criterion Collection debuts to DVD, and Blu-ray, a high definition digital restoration of an unusually philosophical film from French auteur Jean-Pierre Melville. Jean-Paul Belmondo plays the title character, a dedicated priest in the small occupied village of St. Bernard during World War Two. Most local men are off to war or in the resistance, making Morin uncomfortable with his even more exalted status among the village’s lonely women. But he remain pious, ignoring flirtatious advances and using his attentions to talk, and talk, with various women about their spiritual crises and his dedication to his faith.
Not rated, 117 minutes. The DVD includes a 1961 French television interview with Belmondo and Melville, commentary on a selected scene, and a brief deleted scene. Plus, a booklet with an article by film scholar Gary Indiana and an interview with Melville on the film.

Limitless (***)
Like many good sci-fi tales, this one rests on an almost believable premise, albeit with many plot holes. Eddie (Bradley Cooper), a scruffy, failed Manhattan writer, takes an illegal drug that opens his brain to its full potential. In addition, he becomes a thrill-seeking know-it-all. He abandons writing for day trading stocks, making a quick fortune and earning the attention of a big financier (Robert DeNiro). About the time Eddie reaches his peak, the drugs start giving him problems while his supply runs out. Fast-paced thriller with several sub-plots.
Rated PG-13, 114 minutes. The DVD, also on Blu-ray and in several combo packs, includes commentary, both the theatrical and the unrated extended versions, a 12 minute “making of” featurette, an alternate ending, and a five minute segment on “A Man Without Limits.”

Take Me Home Tonight (**1/2)
In 1988, recent college graduates, and twins, Matt and Windy (Topher Grace and Anna Faris), join a loser friend (Dan Fogler) for a party that encapsulates a decade remembered for cocaine, hot tubs, and bad hair. The trio have life-changing experiences, particularly Matt as he hooks up with his high school dream (Teresa Palmer). Innocuous youth comedy with a good era soundtrack.
Rated R, 133 minutes. The DVD, also on Blu-ray and in combo packs, offers seven deleted scenes, an eight minute “cast get-together,” and 26 minutes of the film’s music on a “Music Boombox.”

Park Benches (**1/2)
A thin theme of desperate love runs throughout this fast paced French film with a stellar, multi-generational cast: Catherine Deneuve, Mathieu Amalric, Chiara Mastroianni, Olivier Gourmet, and many others. Bouncing among several locations, including a bureaucratic office, a hardware store, a public park and elsewhere, director Bruno Podalydes paints a picture of the inhabitants of Versailles, as they work, linger, pass time at their leisure, and even meddle in others’ affairs.
Not rated, 114 minutes. The DVD includes 15 minutes of deleted scenes, along with three brief featurettes centering on the film, its locations, and the director.

Turbulent Skies (**1/2)
Director Fred Olen Ray squeezes maximum tension out of his own clunky screenplay, as an overly ambitious airline, headed by the son (Patrick Muldoon) of the owner (Brad Dourif), tries out its novel new computer-driven passenger jet. But, much to everyone’s alarm, they fail to inform their passengers on the inaugural flight. Once aflight with executives and airline relatives, their best plans go awry. Only a daring in-air rescue by the husband (Casper Van Dien) of one of the passengers can save the day.
Not rated, 87 minutes.

Born to Ride (**)
Two buddies (Casper Van Dien and Patrick Muldoon, together again) begin a motorcycle trip headed to the annual big bike gathering in Sturgis, South Dakota. But trouble lurks for the duo in the form of a congressman being blackmailed and the knuckleheads behind the extortion. The bike-riding pair unknowingly possess incriminating evidence as they stop and visit one’s mother (Theresa Russell). Meanwhile, two inept cretins track them down, giving the film several jarring episodes of not particularly funny slapstick humor. The unequal parts of comedy, family drama, and crime thriller never really jell.
Not rated, 90 minutes.

Source Code (***)
The serpentine plot twists in director Duncan Jones’ new science fiction puzzler are explained not as time travel, but as time “reassignment.” But, if that proves too difficult to grasp, it might simply be best to consider the advice given by one of the film’s characters: just don’t think about it. Screenwriter Ben Ripley’s story and script present an original, if absurd, idea around which to base a narrative: for about eight minutes after death, the body exudes an aura, like a just turned-off light bulb, that rekindles somehow the last eight minutes of life. Throw a person with the same wave length, or whatever it is, into the mix and that other person can then relive the other person’s last eight minutes. This magical ability allows Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) to enter the mind of a man traveling on a Chicago commuter train about to be blown up by terrorists. Stevens himself rests inside some kind of capsule and communicates with a supervisor (Vera Farmiga), who steers him as he attempts to uncover who placed the bomb and where, possibly avoiding detonation. As advised, just don’t think about it. But Stevens fails to accomplish his mission in eight minutes, forcing him to repeat his task several times, thereby creating an unfunny Groundhog Day-like succession of scenes. In the process, he becomes better acquainted with Christina Warren (Michelle Monaghan), a fellow traveler he would like to know better if only he had but world enough and time. Director Jones squeezes tension and suspense out of his repetitious material, having handled similar circumstances in his excellent 2009 Moon, another science fiction mind-bender. Jones must orchestrate multiple explosions, various fights, and even an unlikely fledgling romance. And Ripley’s script may be too complex, and outrageous, to follow or make sense of, but it creates a compelling picture of Stevens, which eventually warrants our emotional investment. Gyllenhaal passes through an impressive array of emotions as he, in his words, “saves mankind.” And in gratuitous roles that can only be called supporting, Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright, and Michelle Monaghan adequately support.
Rated PG-13, 93 minutes. Also on Blu-ray.

Lord of the Dance
The immensely popular dance troop of Michael Flatley is highlighted in these performances captured in Dublin and London. As the Lord of the Dance company prepares for its first American tour in 13 years, these sequences attempt to convey Flatley’s strange captivating allure.
Not rated, 95 minutes. The DVD includes 16 minutes of deleted scenes and a 20 minute “behind-the-scenes” featurette.

And, for kids this week:

Shaun the Sheep: Animal Antics
Shaun, the new and clever creation from the wizards at Aardman Animation, returns in seven farm adventures. Shaun and friends confront a fox, a farmers’ market, and, horror, a golf course.
Not rated, 44 minutes. The DVD includes a building-a-pig game, and a sneak peak at a new Timmy Tune feature.

The Young Artists Collection
This three disc set from Scholastic Storybook Treasures highlights music and art, particularly the best selling story Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin. Among the fifteen other children’s stories included are The Dot, Shrinking Violet, Amazing Grace, Musical Max, The Star Spangled Banner, Keeping House, Patrick, and more. Zach Braff, Mary Beth Hurt, James Earl Jones and others provide narration, and Aretha Franklin performs a song.
Not rated, 167 minutes. The set also contains an interview with author-illustrator Patrick McDonnell, and several read-a-longs.

Also on DVD: Heartbeats, Ironclad, Trust, We Are What We Are.