The week’s DVDs begin in an unnamed country:
DVDs for March 18 by Boo Allen
This week, we begin in a unnamed country:
Patience Stone (***1/2)
In a bombed out apartment in an unnamed Muslim country (Afghanistan?), an unnamed woman (Golshifteh Farahani) with two children and no support nurses her husband of ten years. He lies silent in a coma, and in a filthy bed, from a bullet in the neck. As the woman’s fear overcomes her, she talks to to him. Surprisingly, she tells the much older man things she would never have dared to earlier, many of a private and even sexual nature. Co-writer and director Atiq Rahimi keeps his film swiftly moving, often flashing back to tell the woman’s eventful life story. Her harrowing experiences inform her actions, while also explaining her current situation. Before Rahimi winds up his tense saga, the woman receives an unexpected source of refuge. In a cast populated by non-professionals, Golshifteh Farahani turns in a performance filled with authenticity and emotion.
Rated R, 102 minutes. The DVD contains a 30 minute “making of” featurette.
Saving Mr. Banks (***)
In this consistently entertaining, humorous examination of its own self, Disney Studios, with direction from John Lee Hancock from a script from Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith, features the little known story of when Mrs. P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson), the author of “Mary Poppins,” is brought to Hollywood from England in hopes of Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) landing the movie rights to her book. Hanks’ avuncular portrayal provides appropriate grist for Thompson’s delicious turn as the irascible Travers. The story takes time to flesh out her early background in Australia, a seminal period in which her later cantankerousness can be partly explained. Jason Schwartzman and B. J. Novak play the Sherman brothers, the Disney composers tasked with pleasing Mrs. Travers.
Rated PG-13, 125 minutes. The DVD, as in virtually all Disney releases, come in expected downloads, formats and combo packs. Included within are three deleted scenes, a 15 minute “making of” featurette with emphasis on the Disney legacy: “The Walt Disney Studios: From Poppins to Present,” and the two minute cast and crew sing-along on the last day of filming “Let’s Go Fly a Kite.”
Swerve (***)
This low budget Australian thriller never goes where expected, as writer-director Craig Lahiff has crafted a neo-noir caper reminiscent of other modern entries in the genre, such as Red Rock West. In a dusty, isolated corner of the Outback, Colin (David Lyons) witnesses a fatal auto accident when a man swerves to miss the recklessly driving Jina (Emma Booth). In the wrecked car, Colin finds a suitcase filled with cash, which he dutifully takes into the nearby town’s sheriff (Jason Clarke, Zero Dark Thirty). But first, Colin gives the stranded Jina a ride home. Soon, the sheriff invites the stranded Colin to spend the night at his house, as Colin learns Jina and the sheriff are married. From there, the double-crosses and triple crosses fly but all within the confines of a well-plotted, mostly gap-free scenario. Even until the end, Lahiff keeps up the tension and suspense while delivering the curve balls.
Not rated, 86 minutes. The DVD includes four cast and crew interviews.
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (***)
Idris Elba plays Nelson Mandela in this handsome production directed by Justin Chadwick, with screenplay from William Nicholson from Mandela’s autobiography of the same name. The reverential film examines the full life of the South African leader, including his marriage to Winnie Mandela (Naomi Harris), his country’s apartheid which led to his 27 years of incarceration, his freedom, and his election to become his country’s first post-apartheid president. The film dutifully hits the high notes, if somewhat perfunctorily, but Elba turns in a persuasive performance as Mandela.
Rated PG-13, 141 minutes. The DVD, in all formats and downloads, includes commentary, a 22 minute featurette on “Mandela, the Man,” and a 30 minute, four part “behind-the-scenes” featurette.
Iron Sky: Director’s Cut (**)
Forget Gravity and 12 Years a Slave, what movie-goers really want and are feverishly clamoring for arrives this week—the director’s cut of Timo Vuorensola’s 2012 uber-silly horror fest about Moon Nazis invading earth. Based on the concept that Germany set up a secret Nazi program on the moon following World War II and is now ready to return to take over earth, this satirical slice of lunacy now includes a twenty minute longer version, complete with new supplements. With Julia Dietze, Udo Keir, Gotz Otto.
Not rated, 110 minutes. This new version includes a full length 90 minute “making of” documentary along with a 32 page art book.
5 Fingers (***1/2)
This polished 1952 production arrives from Twentieth Century Fox Archives. Word-master Joseph Mankiewicz displays his knack for inspiring his material, here novelist L.C. Moyzisch’s supposed true story. A perfectly unctuous James Mason plays Diallo, the valet to the British Ambassador in neutral Turkey during World War II. The valet steals secret papers, photographs them, and then sells them to German agents. He then uses the money to elevate the situation of the duplicitous Polish Countess Staviska (Danielle Darrieux). Before the war, he worked for her husband, but now sees himself as her equal. Michael Rennie plays the British agent on Diallo’s trail, a course which ends with an international chase ending in Rio and with a deliciously ironic ending.
Not rated, 107 minutes.
Contracted (*)
It’s not often a horror movie approaches the empty repulsiveness of The Human Centipede, but this dreary, amateurish, no-budget, no-name silliness comes close. Eric England wrote and directed the story of Samantha (Najarra Townsend), a lesbian who gets drunk one night and has a back-seat fling with some strange guy. Before long, she experiences all kinds of physical problems, like losing her hair and some teeth, bleeding erratically, and having her eyes turn creepily red. Maybe she is turning into a vampire, or a zombie, or maybe it’s a cautionary tale about anonymous sex. But the greatest question is: who cares?
Not rated, 84 minutes. The DVD contains commentaries, a 17 minute “making of” featurette, a seven minute segment on Najarra Townsend’s audition, and more.
Peppa Pig: My Birthday Party
Newly arrived in this country is this British animated series featuring the title porker, Peppa. In these twelve episodes, and two bonus, Peppa joins her friends Pedro Pony, Danny Dog, Suzy Sheep and others for adventures, games, and puzzles.
Not rated, 80 minutes.
And, finally, from this week’s TV offerings:
End of the World (**1/2)
This moderately entertaining science fiction spoof from the Syfy channel turns a couple of self-professed disaster-movie geeks into heroes when the earth is threatened and only their knowledge of impending doom can save the world. When disaster looms, a video store owner (Greg Grunberg) and his friend (Neil Grayston) combine their talents and discover that they will also need the expertise of a renowned science fiction writer (Brad Dourif). Like most Syfy channel films, this one has passable but not laughable special effects and an earnest, handsome cast.
Not rated, 90 minutes.
Vikings (***1/2)
In this three part B.B.C. series, archaeologist and historian Neil Oliver provides an informative and entertaining look at the history of the Vikings. Much of what he presents may contradict modern stereotypes of the Scandinavian warriors; for instance, forget those stupid helmets with horns on the side. Oliver travels to various locales in which the Vikings first organized, such as the Swedish island of Gotland, with remains dating back to 1500 B.C. He moves on to the Borum Esohj funeral mounds and on across Scandinavia and its rich Viking heritage. He takes full advantage of current day cinematography to capture the bleak yet beautiful landscapes and scenery in which the Vikings traveled for more than two millennium.
Not rated, 178 minutes.
Also this week: American Hustle, A Brief History of Time, Saving Mr. Banks, Viola.