The week’s DVDs begin with the greatest movie ever:
DVDs for Sept. 13 by Boo Allen
This week we start with the greatest:
Citizen Kane—Ultimate Collector’s Edition (*****)
It’s not often we can begin with the acknowledged greatest film of all
time, but this week Warner Home Video releases a 70th
anniversary edition of Orson Welles’ 1941 masterpiece. This new
Blu-ray Kane has been restored in high-definition from
the original nitrate elements, and it comes in a three disc set. For
the uninitiated, Kane follows the career of Charles
Foster Kane (Welles), patterned after William Randolph Hearst. Kane
becomes increasingly powerful with his growing publishing empire,
only to lose it. But no synopsis can convey the film’s power and its
many technical achievements.
Citizen Kane: Not rated, 119 minutes. The first disc contains two
separate commentaries from Roger Ebert and Peter Bogdanovich, several
featurettes, interviews with Kane actress Ruth Warrick
and editor Robert Wise, storyboards, rare deleted scenes, Kane’s ad
campaign, and more. The Battle Over Citizen Kane (1995,
not rated, 113 minutes) documents the original furor over Kane,
including in-depth biographies of Welles and Hearst. In the HBO
feature RKO 281 (1999,
rated R, 83 minutes), Liev Schreiber plays Orson Welles
during the creation of Kane. The set also includes a 48
page collector’s book filled with photos from Kane, its
production, and photos of various cast and crew, and also a 20 page
replica of the original 1941 souvenir program.
Blood Simple (****)
For their first film in 1985, the Coen brothers announced their combined
genius when they released this clever neo-noir thriller. Filmed in
Austin, the mystery-caper reveals some of their now-trademark
eccentricities. A bar owner hires someone to kill his unfaithful wife
and her boyfriend. Of course things go wrong, but with a rapid pace
and a biting black humor.
Rated R, 95 minutes. This Blu-ray debut is newly re-mastered.
Cry Terror (***1/2), The Unsinkable Molly Brown (***)
On-demand Warner Archives releases two more engaging titles this week, starting
with James Mason in Terror as an electronics expert who
unwittingly helps an old army buddy (Rod Steiger) into rigging a
time-bomb that is then used to extort money from an airline. Mason
and his wife (Inger Stevens) end up being abducted until the job is
complete. Angie Dickinson, Neville Brand, and Jack Klugman play the
inept abductors. A wildly exuberant Debbie Reynolds stays on-screen
for more than two hours as the real life Molly Brown (played
in Titanic by Kathy Bates). Reynolds belts out Meredith Wilson’s infectious
Broadway music score while Brown goes from backwoods Colorado to
clawing her way into Denver and then European society. She returns
home on the Titanic, forever earning her brash nickname.
Love, Wedding, Marriage (**)
Actor Dermot Mulroney directs the story of Eva (Mandy
Moore), a newly married marriage counselor (Mandy Moore) who must
deal with the news from her new husband (Kellan Lutz) that he had
been married before, as well as the separation of her parents
(veteran scenery chewers James Brolin and Jane Seymour) because of a
decades-old affair. With a script short on laughs, Mulroney lets his
actors mug unmercifully in attempts to make something out of nothing.
Rated PG-13, 90 minutes. Also on Blu-ray.
Just Peck (**1/2)
This teen comedy has a main character, Michael Peck
(Keir Gilchrist), who is admittedly average in everything. He’s just
Peck, not a great student, athlete or one of his high school’s
beautiful people. But he does have the requisite crush on the
school’s unobtainable babe, Emily (Brie Larson). Strictly for
younger ones. With Adam Arkin and Camryn Manheim.
Not rated, 93 minutes.
The Entitled (**1/2)
Three angry, outcast college students (Kevin Zegers,
Tatiana Maslany, Devon Bostick) kidnap three rich students (Dustin
Milligan, Laura Vandervoort, John Bregart) and then demand ransom
from the three fathers (Victor Garber, Ray Liotta, Stephen McHattie).
The cleverly plotted scheme begins to unravel when the kidnappers
fail to follow the all important Plan. Director Aaron Woodley
delivers some third act surprises.
Rated R, 91 minutes. The DVD, also on Blu-ray, contains
an 11 minute behind-the-scenes featurette and a brief alternate
ending.
A Horrible Way to Die (**1/2)
Adam Wingard directed this grisly serial killer drama
about Garrick Turrell (A J Bowen), who escapes from jail and
immediately returns to killing. Meanwhile, his ex-girlfriend Sarah
(Amy Seimetz) still does not feel safe despite her anonymity.
Wingard’s late surprises fail to enrich the numbing violence.
Rated R, 87 minutes. The DVD, also on Blu-ray, includes
a seven minute behind-the-scenes featurette.
The Exterminator—director’s cut (**)
In this 1980 vigilante tale, Robert Ginty plays a
Vietnam vet who decides this New York City aggression will not stand.
So, he becomes The Exterminator and begins wiping out bad guys while
using some nasty methods he picked up in Vietnam. Christopher George
plays the police detective tracking him, with Samantha Eggar wasted
as an obligatory girlfriend.
Not rated, 104 minutes. The DVD also holds director’s
commentary and the original soundtrack mix.
Thor (**1/2 )
The summer silly-season began with Thor, a puffed up,
turned up cartoon splashed across 3-D screens. It also marks the
first film of the season based on a comic book, origins which become
quickly apparent on screen. The one-time Marvel comic now arrives
with a reported $150 million price tag, backed by a director, Kenneth
Branagh, more known for his Shakespearean adaptations than for his
pulp acumen. When Branagh focuses on “Thor” in the human realm,
it is no worse, or sillier, than its many comic counterparts. But
when it ventures into murky other-worlds, it looks surprisingly
bargain basement. Thor splits its time almost equally
between its heavenly origins and its earthly wanderings. In the
former environs, Bo Welch’s production designs look plucked from
1930’s Flash Gordon serials. And the celestial special effects,
credited to several people, look as though they would have been
outdated a decade ago. But it’s hard to blame Branagh for such
pedestrian visuals since such elements usually fall out of the
director’s realm. Thor begins in vaguely spectral
Asgard, where everyone speaks in stiff, unnatural dialogue. There,
the head cheese, Odin (Anthony Hopkins), warns his sons Thor (Chris
Hemsworth) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston) not to face off against a tribe
of warriors who look like Jack Frost on steroids. They do fight, of
course, but in a choppy, confused battle that shows Branagh’s
limitations as an action director. Later, having defied pop, Thor
finds himself exiled and thrown into the New Mexico desert where he
is found by a trio of scientists (Natalie Portman, Stellan Skarsgard,
Kat Dennings). From there, Thor proudly adopts his fish-out-of-water
mantle, talking oddly, not knowing where he is, and generally
providing material for everyone to comment on. Thor hangs around long
enough to retrieve the magic hammer which gives him extraordinary
powers, which come in handy when his villainous brother arrives for a
showdown in the middle of a small town that looks constructed simply
for the sake of destruction. Once again, in frivolous films such as
these, actors are interchangeable. The ubiquitous Natalie Portman,
who seems to be perilously close to wearing out her welcome,
successfully pops out her eyes when needed, and, as Thor, Australian
Hemsworth has obviously been spending much more time at the gym than
in perfecting his diction. But, in his defense, in a cartoon like
Thor, pecs and abs mean more anyway.
Rated PG-13, 114 minutes.
Babar: Best Friends Forever, Babar School Days
Both these two collections from the HBO Family series
hold four episodes centering on Babar the Elephant. In BBF,
Babar learns about teamwork, cooperation, and understanding, while in
School Days, he tackles honesty, patience, and
acceptance.
Neither is rated, and both run 90 minutes.
And, from this week’s TV arrivals:
Camelot—first season
This three disc set holds the ten beginning episodes
about the courtly intrigue behind the knights and their ladies during
the beginning reign of King Arthur (Jamie Campbell Bower). Joseph
Fiennes plays Merlin the magician, Eva Green is Morgan, and Amsin
Egerton plays Guinevere.
Not rated, 515 minutes. The set also includes on-set
featurettes, character profiles, a segment on the series’ women, a
blooper reel and more.
Spartacus—Gods of the Arena—complete collection
This action-filled two disc set, of six episodes,
focuses on the political turmoil wrought by Gannicus (Dustin Clare),
the gladiator aiming to become Champion of Capua. With John Hannah,
Manu Bennett, Peter Mensah, Lucy Lawless and others.
Not rated, 347 minutes. The set also includes
commentary, several behind-the-scenes featurettes, extended episodes,
bloopers, a 3-D battle sequence on Blu-ray, and more.
Also on DVD: Hesher, Meek’s Cutoff, The Tempest.