Vampires and more in this week's DVDs

DVDs for August 2 by Boo Allen

This week, we begin in Pennsylvania:

Stake Land (***)

Director Jim Mickle mixes the road-trip genre with
vampire horror, creating genuine frights along with intermittent
wistful moments. Connor Paolo plays teen-aged Martin, left alone when
vampires exterminate his parents. He joins the cryptic “Mister”
(Nick Damici), as they head north through Pennsylvania to a promised
New Eden in Canada, while following a mostly standard horror
routine–picking up people (including Kelly McGillis), dropping some
off, and losing others not only to the marauding undead but also to a
fanatical group of religious fundamentalists who interpret the
vampires’ scourge as divinely sent. Well paced and beautifully
photographed.

Rated R, 98 minutes. The DVD, also on Blu-ray and in
combo packs, includes two separate commentaries, a comprehensive 62
minute “making of” featurette, video diaries, seven additional
character-prequel short films, and more.

On-demand Warner Archives releases three entertaining,
unrated, crime dramas: The Purple Gang (***),
Follow Me Quietly (***), The Rise and
Fall of Legs Diamond (**1/2).

Barry Sullivan stars as a Prohibition Era detective in
Detroit out to break The Purple Gang (1959, 85
minutes), a group of underage delinquents who muscles in on local
bootleggers and, eventually, the mafia. The group is led by Honey
Boy, played with chilling ferocity by boyish Robert Blake. The film
highlights rarely examined Prohibition topics of underage criminality
and organized crime in Detroit. Follow Me Quietly (1949,
60 minutes) is a lean yet effective drama about a
police detective (William Lundigan) and his assistant (Jeff Corey)
tracking down a serial killer named The Judge, who strangles his
victims from behind. Dorothy Patrick plays an eager journalist who
insists on tagging along. Ray Danton plays the title role in Legs
Diamond (1960, 101 minutes), a bio-pic about
Prohibition gangster Jack Diamond (né
Jack Nolan), given his nickname “Legs” by Arnold Rothstein
supposedly for his dancing ability. Budd Boetticher, usually
associated with gritty westerns, directs, beginning with Legs’
arrival in New York from Philadelphia. The flamboyant Diamond quickly
makes himself known in gangster circles by large heists and killing
his rivals. From there, he recklessly advances.

MGM Home Entertainment continues releasing Blu-ray
editions of previously released films, and two standout comedies
arrive this week:

Four Weddings and a Funeral (***1/2)

Hugh Grant stammered his way to major stardom in 1994
with this huge international hit directed by Mike Newell. A group of
single friends (Grant, Simon Callow, John Hannah, and others) attends
several consecutive weddings around Great Britain. Eventually, one of
the group marries and one dies, setting up a culminating surprise.
Andie MacDowell plays the fetching American who keeps popping up and
causing complications. Richard Curtis’ highly lauded script is filled
with still-timely wit and cleverness.

Rated R, 117 minutes. The Blu-ray edition offers
commentary, ten minutes of deleted scenes, an eight minute “making
of” featurette, and two separate featurettes: the 30 minute “The
Wedding Planners,” and the six minute “Two Actors and a Director”

Honeymoon
in Vegas (***1/2)

The under-appreciated lunacy of writer-director Andrew
Bergman (The In-Laws) can be seen in this absurd 1992
comedy about Jack and Betsy (Nicolas Cage and Sarah Jessica Parker)
who fly from New York to Las Vegas to marry. Immediately before,
however, Jack loses large in a private poker game to sleazy gambler
Tommy (James Caan), and the debt can only be resolved by Betsy
spending an ostensibly sex-free weekend with Tommy. She relents, and
Tommy whisks her away to his private home in Hawaii, where he charms
her while Jack goes crazy. The comedy builds with Cage becoming
funnier, and louder, as his Jack grows increasingly frantic. Bergman
fills his ridiculous story with endless flourishes, aided by a
flavorful supporting cast including Tony Shaloub, Pat Morita, Burton
Gilliam, Ben Stein, Peter Boyle, and, of course, the Flying Elvises.

Rated PG-13, 96 minutes. On a movie-only disc.

The
Conqueror
(***1/2)

Entertainment
One releases the much praised 2009 Russian/Ukrainian epic based on
Nikolai Gogol’s novel Taras Bulba (also
the loose source for the 1962 Tony Curtis, Yul Brenner movie).
The
fast moving yarn follows 16^th
century Ukrainian warrior Taras Bulba (Bogdan Stupka, not burdened
with movie-star looks) and his two sons as they join forces with some
of the original Cossacks to fight various Polish hoards. One son
falls for a Polish princess, while the other becomes captive.
Director Vladimir Blotko orchestrates his massive, grittily realistic
armies to render a succession of bloody fight scenes, tortures, and
individual battles.

Not rated, 133 minutes.

The
Minnesota Twins 1991 World Series Collector’s Edition and
Magic in Minnesota: Remembering the Minnesota
Twins 1991 World Series Championship

Every pitch and inning of what ESPN dubbed the Greatest
World Series Ever has been assembled on seven discs into a single
package (not rated, 19 hours, six minutes). Drama reigned in this
seven game classic: three games went extra innings, five were decided
on a single run, four won on the last plate appearance, and the
unforgettable seventh game ended in the 10^th inning with a
1-0 score. One disc includes the Minnesota audio from the Twins Radio
Network. The single disc Magic in Minnesota (not rated,
70 minutes, plus about an hour of supplements) also examines the
series

Omnibus:
American Profiles (****)

This prestigious television program ran from 1952 to
1961, and it regularly featured Alistair Cooke covering some well
known person, place, or event. This fascinating collection of
fourteen features, on two discs, from the program holds interviews
with authors and illustrators James Thurber, Theodore Geisel (Dr.
Seuss), and E.B. White (Charlotte’s Web),
and Nobel Prize winners Pearl Buck and William Faulkner. In 22
minutes, 84 year-old architect Frank Lloyd Wright gives evidence of
his genius and why his creations still remain unequaled. The
reclusive Faulkner can be seen in his Oxford, Mississippi hometown,
mingling with his lifelong friends and generally schmoozing. The set
holds many pleasurable surprises and allows looks at several
now-overlooked legends. The set includes an informative accompanying
booklet on the series.

Not rated, 389 minutes.

Also on DVD: Better Off Dead, Cold Weather,
Everwood—season four, Exporting Raymond, Rio, The Perfect Game, R,
A Screaming Man, Soul Searcher.