The week’s DVDs highlight TV arrivals:
DVDs for Sept. 10 by Boo Allen
This week, we begin in front of the television:
The arrival of Fall signals a wide choice of last season’s television series on home entertainment. Among the many:
Revolution—first season
An impressive group of industry heavyweights (J.J. Abrams, Jon Favreau, who also directs some episodes) assembled behind Erick Kripke’s imaginative creation to make it one of last season’s most watched series, with 20 episodes arriving on five discs, four on Blu-ray. The series revolves around a family struggling to survive 15 years after The Blackout, a universal catastrophe that knocked out every imaginable power source. When young Charlie Matheson (Tracy Spiridakos) sees her father killed by a militia (led by Giancarlo Esposito), she travels with a small band to post-Apocalyptic Chicago. There, she meets her uncle Miles (Billy Burke), a deadly fighter who once knew the leader (Sebastian Monroe) of the now all-powerful Monroe Militia. Every week includes new face-downs, battles, and surprises in a fight for survival.
Not rated, 857 minutes. The series comes in all formats and various combo packs. The nearly two hours of supplements include five webisodes, a 20 minute “making of” featurette, a 14 minute featurette on the pilot episode, 27 minutes with the cast and crew at Paleyfest, a brief gag reel, deleted scenes on each disc, and, on the Blu-ray, UltraViolet digital copies of all episodes.
Spartacus:War of the Damned—third season
Cable TV’s favorite sword and sandal epic arrives on ten episodes on three discs. In this alleged final season, the Romans have already suffered defeat at the Battle of Vesuvius. Using the victory, Spartacus (Liam McIntyre) assembles an army large enough to threaten the security of Rome, a danger not lost to Roman senators and leaders. Cynthia Addai-Robinson appears as Naevia, while Manu Bennett plays Crixus, Dustin Clare is Gannicus, and Simon Merrells plays Crassus.
Not rated, 562 minutes. The set also holds commentaries and deleted scenes, a ten minute “making of” featurette, the four minute “Price of Being a Gladiator,” three minutes on “A Bloody Farewell,” five minutes on the visual effects, and seven minutes on “The Mind Behind ‘Spartacus.’”
Twilight Zone—season five
The final season of one of TV’s most original series roars to a close with additional writings from creator Rod Serling, who helmed the consistently entertaining show to its finale. On five episodes-only discs, the season’s 36 episodes include some of the series’ best known dramas: “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet,” the Civil War surprise “Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” “Living Doll,” “The Long Morrow,” and others. During this season, which originally ran from late 1963 through May, 1964, the series continued to draw well known guest stars, such as future Star Trekkers William Shatner and George Takei, and future Oscar winners Lee Coburn, Martin Landau, and Lee Marvin. Also with Mickey Rooney, Telly Savalas, Jack Klugman
Not rated, 916 minutes.
Haven—season three
This entertaining science fiction series, based on Stephen King’s “The Colorado Kid,” finds the mysterious happenings in bucolic Haven, Maine growing ever weirder. This season of 13 episodes on four discs sees the return of the Colorado Kid himself along with an abduction, a visit from aliens, and multiple other occurrences of the town’s infamous “troubles.” Audrey (Emily Rose) continues to uncover her past lives, Duke (Eric Balfour) fights against the tyranny of his ancestors, and Nathan (Lucas Bryant) battles his own troubles.
Not rated, 572 minutes. The DVD holds commentaries, six interviews with cast, crew and guest stars, deleted and alternate scenes from seven episodes, a comprehensive 42 minute “making of” featurette, five minutes of “behind-the-scenes” footage, six minutes of bloopers, 48 minutes with the “Haven” panel at New York Comic-Con, a webisode series, and a 16 page graphic comic book “After the Storm.”
And now, the big screen offerings:
Blood (**1/2)
This often measured British crime drama sports an excellent cast filled with several actors appearing on American TV. After two police-detective brothers, Joe and Chrissie, played, respectively, by Paul Bettany and Stephen Graham (Al Capone on “Boardwalk Empire”), murder a suspect in a child killing, they bury the body. Unknown to them, however, their drunk, dementia-ridden father (Brian Cox) watches from the back seat of their car. Later, a colleague (Mark Strong—Frank Agnew on “Low Winter Sun”) suspects the brothers and begins acting on his suspicions. Chrissie folds under the pressure, causing trouble with his fiancee Gemma (Zoe Tapper—Ellen Love on “Mr. Selfridge”). Director Nick Murphy delivers a no-nonsense drama filled with angst-ridden characters.
Not rated, 92 minutes.
Shadow Dancer (***)
Andrea Riseborough plays Collette McVeigh, a dedicated soldier in the early 1990s for the Irish Republican Army when called upon to leave a bomb in the London subway. After she is captured before the bomb explodes, an MI5 agent, Mac (Clive Owen), offers her freedom if she will return to Northern Ireland and spy on her politically-connected family. She wavers between love of family and never seeing her young son again. Director James Marsh steers her delicately through the tightrope she walks.
Rated R, 102 minutes. The DVD holds an eight minute “behind the scenes” featurette and seven cast and crew interviews.
Blancanieves (***1/2)
Pablo Berger wrote and directed this charming black and white, mostly silent, film based on the Snow White legend but transposed to 1920s Seville. Played extravagantly and to large effect, Maribel Verdu (Y Tu Mama Tambien) plays Encarna, a female bullfighter with the nickname Blancanieves (Snow-White). The beautiful photography creates an elegiac mood. With Daniel Cacho, Angela Molina.
Rated PG-13, 104 minutes. The DVD contains a five minute introduction from Berger, a 30 minute “making of” featurette, a 28 page booklet, and more.
Hands of a Stranger (***), The Accursed (***)
These two small pleasures, now available on demand from Warner Archives, originated at poverty row studio Allied Artists. Despite their limited sets and obvious low budgets, they both manufacture some palpable tension and, in the first film, abundant creepiness. In Hands of a Stranger (85 minutes, 1960), based on an uncredited 1920 French novel re-made several times, a concert pianist (James Stapleton) mangles his hands in an auto accident. The attending and unauthorized surgeon (Paul Lukather) then grafts a pair of hands on the pianist from the fresh corpse of a murderer. When he recovers, the pianist becomes a new man, angry, sudden and quick to quarrel (anyone? Anyone?), and eventually, a murderer. The Accursed (74 minutes, 1958) centers on a group of former German resistance fighters during World War II who assemble when a leader is murdered. Immediately before the remaining group gathers at a creepy mansion owned by Col. Price (notoriously difficult Donald Wolfit), a messenger bearing news of the death staggers in with a dagger in his back. Before long, officious American Major Shane (Robert Bray) arrives to uncover the labyrinthine conspiracy. Writer-director Michael McCarthy squeezes the most out of his material with this taut, unpretentious mystery thriller. Young Christopher Lee plays one of the house guests.
Wish You Were Here (**)
Alice (co-writer Felicity Price) and husband Dave (Joel Edgerton) travel to Cambodia with her sister Steph (Teresa Palmer) and Steph’s boyfriend Jeremy (Antony Starr). When Jeremy goes missing, the other three return home to Sydney, where Steph confesses to her fling with Dave. From there, director Kieran Darcy-Smith awkwardly flips from the present melodrama to flashbacks revealing what happened to Jeremy, neither of which is compelling.
Rated R, 89 minutes. The DVD includes nine cast and crew interviews and a 36 minute “making of” featurette.
Also on DVD: Blood, Homeland–second season, Parade’s End, Snake Eyes.