The week’s DVDs begin in 1970s Italy:
DVDs
for June 19 by Boo Allen
This week, we begin in 1970s Italy:
Seduction of Mimi (***), Love and Anarchy (***1/2), All Screwed Up (***)
Kino Lorber gives Blu-ray debuts to three of Italian director Lina
Wertmuller’s entertaining diversions from the early 1970s. She
regularly turned out weighty comedies tinged with social relevance
yet topped off with an inevitably tortured romance. Her frequent
co-stars Giancarlo Giannini and Mariangela Melato appear in Mimi
(1972, 112 minutes) and Love and Anarchy (1973,
129 minutes). In the unbridled, unfocused Mimi,
Giannini plays the title character, a Sicilian worker who tires of
paying constant tribute to his mafia bosses. He flees to Turin where
he falls for a radical street peddler (Melato). They become involved
in local leftist politics, while he rises at work and begins to raise
his new son. He conveniently forgets about his wife left behind until
he is transferred home, forcing him to interact with his abandoned
wife who has become pregnant by another man. In Love and
Anarchy, Tunin (Giannini) comes to Rome from the south to
assassinate Mussolini. He is to be aided by Salomé
(Melato), a prostitute. But he ends up falling in love with one of
her co-workers (Lina Polito) who tests his revolutionary resolve. In
All Screwed Up (1974,
108 minutes), two young bumpkins (Luigi Diberti, Nino
Bignamini) from the provinces come to big city Milan. There, they
fall in with a group of other young people who decide to live
together in one apartment. While love and romance blossom, the
chaotic comedy turns gradually darker as the young adults confront
life’s realities.
Together, the three films offer an in depth look at one of the era’s most
celebrated filmmakers.
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (***)
This renowned 1946 drama comes to Blu-ray after being digitally restored
from the original 35mm prints. The result is a glossy black and white
picture which seems to capture the striking original contrasts.
Veteran director Lewis Milestone (All Quiet on the Western
Front) choreographed his fine cast through one of the
first film noir entries. Iconic femme fatale Barbara Stanwyck plays
the title character, a spoiled child who matures into a nasty adult
married to weak willed social climber Walter (Kirk Douglas, in his
film debut). When an old childhood friend, Sam (Van Heflin), returns
to town after eighteen years, Martha and Walter believe it is to
blackmail them over an adolescent secret they all share. Several plot
twists bring about heightened conflicts, particularly when a recently
released convict (Lizbeth Scott) appears to team up with Sam.
Not rated, 116 minutes. The disc also holds an example of the film’s
before-and-after restoration.
Seeking Justice (***)
Gaping plot holes keep this decent action-thriller from
otherwise being more absorbing. In one of his more restrained roles,
Nicolas Cage plays Will, a mild mannered school teacher married to
Laura (January Jones). While she recovers in a hospital after being
beaten and raped, the mysterious Simon (Guy Pearce) approaches Will
and tells him the man responsible can be “taken care of” if Will
agrees to a future favor. Of course, this so-called favor simply sets
Will up for prospective crises, with the police and local politicians
and journalists.
Rated R, 105 minutes. The disc holds a seven minute “making of” featurette.
A Bag of Hammers (***)
Two irresponsible young Los Angeles buddies, Ben (Jason
Ritter) and Alan (Jake Sandvig), live together while stealing cars to
make ends meet. Through dramatic circumstances, they unexpectedly
take responsibility, without telling authorities, for a 12 year-old
boy (Chandler Canterbury) living next door. What begins as slacker
comedy turns serious and even dark, a mood shift director Brian Crano
handles adequately enough. Top talents Rebecca Hall and Amanda
Seyfried are wasted in supporting roles.
Not rated, 85 minutes. The DVD also includes an 11 minute “making of” featurette.
Reel Love (**)
Chicago attorney Holly (Leann Rimes) returns to her
southern home when she learns her cantankerous father Wade (Burt
Reynolds) has had a heart attack. Once there, he refuses help or
medication and wants to do nothing but fish, particularly in pursuit
of the giant bass known as The Queen of Sheba. Holly sticks around
long enough to rekindle old friendships, including an unexpected
romance with local hunk Jay (Shawn Roberts). She learns she can go
home again in this innocuous yet uninspired romantic comedy.
Not rated, 86 minutes. The DVD contains brief separate
interviews with Rimes and Reynolds.
A Fool and His Money (**1/2)
Triple threat writer-actor-filmmaker David Talbert takes
from “A Raisin in the Sun” for his story about a family winning a
million dollars in a contest only to have moochers and unknown
relatives appear from nowhere. Funnyman Eddie Griffin stars, with
Michael Beach, Chyna Layne, Ann Nesby.
Not rated, 105 minutes. The DVD holds three separate
featurettes: “behind-the-scenes,” “making-of,” and “walking
the set.”
The FP (**)
Various genres clash in this mix of fight-action, video
gaming, dance, and other media diversions for the futuristic story of
two gangs facing each other with pride, and a woman, on the line.
With Jason Trost, Liz Valmassy, and narrated by James Remar.
Rated R, 83 minutes. The DVD offers bounteous extras,
including commentary, a booklet, and a multi-part, 36 minute “making
of” featurette.
And, finally, from this week’s TV offerings:
Web Therapy–season one
Lisa Kudrow co-created and then starred in this comedy
series of 10 episodes, on two discs, as Fiona Wallice, a befuddled,
short-fused therapist. She hates her patients so much, as well as
their whining, she has reduced sessions to three minutes and only to
take place by web-cam. The split screen device encourages
improvisation with the rotating guest stars. And Kudrow obviously
called in some favors as shown by this initial season’s impressive
list of appearances: Jane Lynch, Courteney Cox, Alan Cumming, Steven
Weber and others. The great Lilly Tomlin plays Fiona’s mother.
Not rated, 266 minutes.
Also on DVD: Big Miracle, Jeff Who Lives at Home, Project X, Wanderlust, Wilfried.