We have 3 copies of Love The Beastto give away on DVD courtesy of Metrodome.
Aussie actor Eric Bana makes his directorial debut with this documentary about his 25-year love affair with his first car – a Ford XB Falcon Coupe aka “The Beast”.
Brüno (Universal): After the success of Borat, Sacha Baron Cohen returns with another mock-documentary comedy, this time playing the flamboyant Austrian fashionista Brüno, who wreaks havoc at a fashion show and then travels to America, where the fun continues.
Directed by Larry Charles, stand out sequences involve Bruno upsetting orthodox Jews and Palestinian terrorists; an uncomfortable appearance on a TV chat show with an adopted African child; an extended attempt to ‘become straight’ with the help of religion, martial arts and the US military; and a truly riotous climax involving a cage wrestling match in Arkansas. [Buy the Blu-ray at Amazon UK]
Extras on the Blu-ray include:
1080P 1.85:1 Widescreen
English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
Latin American Spanish and Canadian French 5.1 DTS Surround
English SDH, Latin American Spanish and Canadian French subtitles
Alternative Scenes
Deleted Scenes (includes 1 extra scene not found on the DVD)
Extended Scenes (includes 1 extra scene not found on the DVD)
An Interview with Lloyd Robinson
Enhanced Commentary – Go behind the cameras and hear the true stories of how Sacha Baron Cohen and director Larry Charles pulled off their unscripted stunts with celebrities, politicians and other unsuspecting people
The extras on Blu-ray are all 1080P and have a listed running time of 1hr 15mins approx (not including the commentary).
Set in the South during the American Civil War and Reconstruction, it follows the life of Scarlett O’Hara (Vivien Leigh), the daughter of a plantation owner and her relationship with Rhett Butler (Clark Gable). Featuring supporting performances by Leslie Howard, Olivia de Havilland, Thomas Mitchell and Hattie McDaniel, it is still a beloved classic of cinema despite lasting nearly 4 hours.
Famous set pieces include the burning of Atlanta (which used a piece of scenery left over from King Kong) and one of the most famous closing lines of any film. In a year littered with classic films (1939 also included The Wizard of Oz, Mr Smith Goes To Washington, Stagecoach and Ninotchka), Gone With the Wind won ten Oscars, including: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actress (Vivien Leigh), and Best Supporting Actress (Hattie McDaniel, who became the first African-American to win the award). [Buy the Blu-ray at Amazon UK]
Set in Los Angeles, it explores the lives of Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro), a methodical professional thief and Lt. Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino) an impulsive LAPD homicide detective and those around them as they come into conflict with one another.
The supporting cast includes Val Kilmer as Chris, one of McCauley’s partners; Ashley Judd as his wife Charlene; Amy Brenneman; Jon Voight; Natalie Portman; Diane Venora; Hank Azaria; William Fichtner and (in a cameo) Henry Rollins.
One of the best crime films of the 1990s, the big selling point at the time was the pairing of De Niro and Pacino, but there is much more to the film than just the cast. Mann creates a rich atmosphere and shoots the action set-pieces brilliantly, plus Elliot Goldenthal’s moody score and Dante Spinotti’s cinematography all add to the mix.
This Blu-ray presentation is significantly ahead of the DVD counterparts but doesn’t exhibit the demonstrative depth and detail that many have come to expect from this new format.
If you are a fan of the film, it is likely you purchased the excellent 2-disc DVD which came out a few years ago. However, if you have made the jump to Blu-ray then this is still definitely worth purchasing as it is still one of Michael Mann’s best films and a reach audio and visual feast. [Buy the Blu-ray at Amazon UK]
N.B. For the foreseeable future I’m going to separate DVDs and Blu-rays into different posts. Part of the reason is that quite a few older films are being released on Blu-ray and I don’t want there to be any confusion.
I’m also going to put Amazon affiliate links alongside each release to make it easier to buy them.
DVD PICKS
Brüno(Universal): After the success of Borat, Sacha Baron Cohen returns with another mock-documentary comedy, this time playing the flamboyant Austrian fashionista Brüno, who wreaks havoc at a fashion show and then travels to America, where the fun continues.
Directed by Larry Charles, stand out sequences involve Bruno debating the Middle East conflict with orthodox Jews and Palestinian terrorists; an uncomfortable appearance on a TV chat show with an adopted African child; an extended attempt to ‘become straight’ with the help of religion, martial arts and the US military; and a truly riotous climax involving a cage wrestling match in Arkansas. [Buy the DVD at Amazon UK]
Extras include:
Alternative Scenes
Deleted Scenes
Extended Scenes
An Interview with Lloyd Robinson
Enhanced Commentary – The true stories of how Sacha Baron Cohen and director Larry Charles pulled off their unscripted stunts with celebrities, politicians and other unsuspecting people.
Set in the South during the American Civil War and Reconstruction, it follows the life of Scarlett O’Hara (Vivien Leigh), the daughter of a plantation owner and her relationship with Rhett Butler (Clark Gable). Featuring supporting performances by Leslie Howard, Olivia de Havilland, Thomas Mitchell and Hattie McDaniel, it is still a beloved classic of cinema despite lasting nearly 4 hours.
Famous set pieces include the burning of Atlanta (which used a piece of scenery left over from King Kong) and one of the most famous closing lines of any film. In a year littered with classic films (1939 also included The Wizard of Oz, Mr Smith Goes To Washington, Stagecoach and Ninotchka), Gone With the Wind won ten Oscars, including: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actress (Vivien Leigh), and Best Supporting Actress (Hattie McDaniel, who became the first African-American to win the award). [Buy the DVD at Amazon UK]
Extras on the DVD include:
Disc 1 The Movie, Part 1
Remastered feature with Dolby Digital 5.1 Audio
Commentary by historian Rudy Behlmer
Disc 2 The Movie, Part 2
Remastered feature
Commentary by historian Rudy Behlmer
Offer for a numbered Limited Edition copy of the Original 1939 Poster
Extras on the 5-disc version include:
Disc 3
About The Movie
The Making of a Legend documentary (1989 TV Special) (Narrated by Christopher Plummer)
Restoring a Legend – Chronicles the film/video restoration process
Dixie Hails Gone with the Wind -1939 Premiere newsreel
1940 MGM historical short – The Old South
Atlanta Civil War Centennial 1961 premiere newsreel
International prologue
Foreign language version sample scenes
Theatrical Trailers
Disc 4
About The Cast
Melanie Remembers: Reflections by Olivia de Havilland – Exclusive 2004 Documentary
Cast profile – Gable: The King Remembered
Cast profile – Vivien Leigh: Scarlett and Beyond
The Supporting Players – Cameo portraits of an unforgettable ensemble
At Tara
The O’Hara Plantation in Georgia
Thomas Mitchell as Gerald O’Hara
Barbara O’Neill as Ellen, his wife
Their Daughters
Evelyn Keyes as Suellen
Ann Rutherford as Carreen
The house servants
Hattie McDaniel as Mammy
Oscar Polk as Pork
Butterfly McQueen as Prissy
At Twelve Oaks
Leslie Howard as Ashley Wilkes
Rand Brooks as Charles Hamilton, her brother
Carroll Nye as Frank Kennedy, a guest
In Atlanta
Laura Hope Crews as Aunt Pittypat Hamilton
Eddie Anderson as Uncle Peter, her coachman
Harry Davenport as Dr. Meade
Jane Darwell as Mrs. Merriwether
Ona Munson as Belle Watling
Cammie King as Bonnie Blue Butler
Disc 5
New Bonus Disc
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment presents 1939: Hollywood’s Greatest Year – New documentary about Hollywood’s watershed year narrated by Kenneth Branagh
Gone with the Wind: The Legend Lives On — Exploring the legacy of the most beloved film through illuminating interviews, footage and visits to historical sites, events and museums
Moviola: The Scarlett O’Hara Wars 1980 WBTV Special never before on home video
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney): One of the greatest Disney films ever made is being re-released on DVD and Blu-ray. Made in 1937, the concept of reviving a well-known Grimm’s Fairy Tale was initially greeted with scepticism. But Walt Disney invested three years, $1,500,000, and the combined talents of 570 artists into the film.
The result was a film that was acknowledged a classic and also earned an incredible $8,500,000 dollars in gross rentals during the Great Depression. The story, characters and animation are all of the highest quality and notice the clever contrast between Snow White and Prince Charming (drawn realistically) and the Seven Dwarfs (rendered in the rounded, caricatured manner of Disney’s short-subject characters). [Buy the DVD from Amazon UK]
The extras on the DVD include:
Audio Commentary with Walt Disney
Snow White Returns
The One That Started It All
The Princess and the Frog Sneak Peek
Someday My Prince Will Come by Tiffany Thornton
Dylan & Cole Sprouse Blu-ray is Suite!
Learn How To Take Your Favourite Movies on the Go (Disneyfile)
It should be noted that the 2005 feature The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit is not on this set (presumably for rights reasons as it was co-produced with DreamWorks) but it does feature a decent selection of extras and the brand-new short A Matter Of Loaf And Death, in which the pair run a bakery but come across a mysterious plot when all the bakers in the town go missing.
For those unfamiliar with the famous characters, Gromit is the faithful canine companion of the cheese-obsessed inventor Wallace (voiced by Peter Sallis) and they are the brainchild of Nick Park, who won Oscars for the first three films. All the characters were made from moulded plasticine modelling clay on metal armatures, and filmed with stop motion clay animation.
Information about extras is a bit thin on the ground but apparently it includes:
Audio commentaries
Behind the scenes featurette
Various shorts with Wallace and Gromit that were created for the internet
A spin-off episode of Shaun the Sheep
A scrapbook with blueprints and a photo gallery of some of the inventions
This isn’t the first time the first three shorts have been released on DVD but the big deal here is that it’s their debut on Blu-ray. [Buy it from Amazon on DVD or Blu-ray]
It’s A Wonderful Life (Universal): The perennial Christmas favourite directed by Frank Capra and starring James Stewart comes to Blu-ray and is worth getting if you don’t already own it.
The following specs for the Blu-ray are:
Black & White Original and Colour versions
1080P 1.33:1 Full Screen
English DD2.0 Mono
English SDH subtitles
Theatrical Trailer
Trivia Tracker
Picture Comparison
There will also be a new DVD release that also includes both the original and colour versions of the film, although why anyone would want to colourise a film like this is beyond me. There are reportedly no extras on the DVD, which frankly is a bit poor. [Buy it on DVD or Blu-ray]
The Proposition (Palisades Tartan): This 2005 Australian western directed by John Hillcoat and written by Nick Cave (yes, the musician) stars Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Emily Watson, John Hurt and Danny Huston.
Set in the Australian outback in the 1880s, the story follows the series of events following the horrific rape and murder of the Hopkins family, allegedly committed by the infamous Burns brothers gang.
Grimy but compelling, this is a timely release on Blu-ray as Hillcoat’s adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road will soon be seen in UK cinemas.
The Wizard of Oz 70th Anniversary Edition (Warner): The classic musical fantasy gets the full re-release treatment on DVD and Blu-ray from Warner Bros in its 70th anniversary year.
Directed by Victor Fleming, it was based on the 1900 children’s novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum and starred Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr and Frank Morgan, with Billie Burke, Margaret Hamilton, Charles Grapewin, Clara Blandick and the Singer Midgets as the Munchkins.
Originally released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, it follows the story of a Kansas farmgirl Dorothy (Garland) who gets transported to the magical land of Oz where she encounters all manner of characters including the Good Witch of the North (Billie Burke), Scarecrow (Ray Bolger), Tin Man (Jack Haley) and a Cowardly Lion (Bert Lahr) and the Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton).
Although successful when it was originally released the songs from the film became huge, with “Over the Rainbow” nabbing the Oscar for Best Original Song and the film itself garnering several nominations, including Best Picture.
However, the film became permanently embedded in popular culture when it was screened every year on US television from 1959 to 1991, becoming one of the most watched films of all time.
The UK DVD and Blu-ray Disc release is a newly remastered version with a raft of new extrasand a sing-along feature.
It is available on 1-Disc DVD (£12.99 RRP), 4-Disc DVD (£19.99 RRP, HMV Exclusive) and 3-Disc Blu-ray (£22.99 RRP).
The extras on the different versions are outlined below:
Collector’s Edition Sing-Along Version – 3 Discs BLU-RAY Release (2 BDs, 1 DVD Sing-Along)
Blu-ray Disc 1: Main Feature
Remastered feature with 5.1 Audio
1080P 1.33:1
English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD
English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese DD1.0 Mono
English HOH, French, German HOH, Italian, Italian HOH, Spanish, Dutch, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish subtitles (Film & Extras except commentary)
Commentary by Historian John Fricke including archival interviews of the film’s cast and crew
Music and Effects Track
Original mono Track
Sing-Along Audio Feature
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: The Making of a Movie Classic [1990 TV special]
Because of the Wonderful Things it Does: The Legacy of Oz
Memories of Oz [2001 TCM documentary]
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Storybook
Prettier than ever: The Restoration of Oz
We Haven’t Really Met Properly”” Supporting Cast Profiles
Audio Jukebox Selection
Leo Is on the Air Radio Promo
Good News of 1939 Radio Show
12/25/1950 Lux Radio Theater Broadcast
Another Romance of Celluloid: Electrical Power
Calvacade of the Academy Awards Excerpt
Texas Contest Winners
Off to See the Wizard Excerpts
Stills Galleries
6 Trailers
Harold Arlen’s Home Movies
Outtakes and Deleted Scenes
It’s a Twister! It’s a Twister! The Tornado Tests
Blu-ray Disc 2: Extra Features
Subtitles: English, French, German, Italian, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, Russian (+ 3 others my player reports as numbers)
Victor Fleming: Master Craftsman (NEW)
L. Frank Baum: The Man Behind the Curtain
Celebrating Hollywood’s Biggest Little Stars (NEW)
The Dreamer of Oz [1990 TV special] (NEW)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1910 short)
His Majesty, The Scarecrow of Oz [1914 feature]
The Magic Cloak of Oz [1914 short] (NEW)
The Patchwork Girl of Oz [1914] (NEW)
The Wizard of Oz [1925 feature]
The Wizard of Oz [1933 animated short]
Disc 3: DVD Main Feature & Sing-along
Sing-Along Version – 1 DVD Disc Release
Re-mastered feature with Dolby Digital 5.1 Audio
Commentary by Historian John Fricke including archival interviews of the film’s cast and crew
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Storybook
Prettier than ever: The Restoration of Oz
We Haven’t Really Met Properly – Supporting Cast Profiles
Music and Effects Track
Original mono Track
Sing-Along Tracks
Trailers
Collector’s Edition Sing-Along Version – 4 Discs DVD Release
Remastered feature with Dolby Digital 5.1 Audio
Commentary by Historian John Fricke including archival interviews of the film’s cast and crew
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Storybook
Prettier than ever: The Restoration of Oz
We Haven’t Really Met Properly”” Supporting Cast Profiles
Music and Effects Track
Original mono Track
Sing-Along Audio Feature
Trailers
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: The Making of a Movie Classic [1990 TV special]
Memories of Oz [2001 TCM documentary]
The Art of Imagination: A Tribute to Oz
Because of the Wonderful Things it Does: The Legacy of Oz
We have 2 copies of Drag Me To Hellto give away on DVD courtesy of Lionsgate.
A return to the horror genre for director Sam Raimi it is the tale of a real estate agent (Alison Lohman) who falls under an ancient curse when she is forced to evict an elderly woman (Lorna Raver) from her house.
She then has three days to dissuade a dark spirit from stealing her soul before she is dragged to hell for an eternity of unthinkable torment.
Available on DVD and Blu-ray Disc, the extra features on the DVD are as follows:
Theatrical Cut
2.40:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
English DD5.1 Surround
English HOH subtitles
Production Diaries:
The Bloody Nose
Inside the Psychic World
Makeup Effects
Alison in the Mud
Wirework
Nightmare
Justin Long Profile
The Parking Lot Fight
The Goat
Set Tour: The Great Room, Puzzle Car, Dragging Her To Hell
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To stand a chance of winning a copy just answer this question:
Which 1981 horror film did Sam Raimi direct?
Drag Me To Hell is out on DVD & Blu-ray now from Lionsgate
N.B. We never pass on any contact details to other companies or organisations as we know just how annoying unsolicited spam is.
Drag Me To Hell (Lionsgate): A back to basics horror film for director Sam Raimi which is the tale of a woman (Alison Lohman) who falls under an ancient curse when she is forced to evict an elderly woman (Lorna Raver) from her house. She then has only three days to dissuade a dark spirit from stealing her soul before she is dragged to hell for an eternity of unthinkable torment.
Although maybe not quite matching up to the early reviews and buzz, this is still an effective and pleasingly old fashioned horror which relies on old-school creepy suspense rather than the sadistic butchery that has become all too prevalent in the genre.
Available on DVD and Blu-ray Disc, the following features on each format are as follows:
DVD
Theatrical Cut
2.40:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
English DD5.1 Surround
English HOH subtitles
Production Diaries:
The Bloody Nose
Inside the Psychic World
Makeup Effects
Alison in the Mud
Wirework
Nightmare
Justin Long Profile
The Parking Lot Fight
The Goat
Set Tour: The Great Room, Puzzle Car, Dragging Her To Hell
Blu-ray Disc
Theatrical Cut & Version you couldn’t see in cinemas
1080P 2.40:1 Widescreen
English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
English HOH subtitles
Production Diaries
Interviews with Sam Raimi, Alison Lohman and Justin Long (BD Exclusive)
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True Blood Season 1 (HBO): The first season of HBO’s acclaimed vampire series from creator and executive producer Alan Ball (writer of American Beauty and Six Feet Under). Set in rural Louisiana it explores the lives of vampires who have emerged from their coffins and no longer need humans for their fix of blood.
Frozen River (Axiom Films): An deservedly acclaimed American indie drama about a desperate single mother (Melissa Leo) living in upstate New York who resorts to smuggling illegal immigrants into the United States as a means of making ends meet. Written and directed by first-timer Courtney Hunt, it co-stars Misty Upham and Charlie McDermott. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize for Best Dramatic Feature at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, it is well worth seeking out, especially for Leo’s performance which won her an Oscar nomination earlier this year. Axiom Films are releasing it on DVD priced at £15.99 (RRP) and on Blu-ray.
Features include:
1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
English DD2.0 and DD5.1 Surround
Exclusive interviews with writer/director Courtney Hunt and star Melissa Leo
Stills gallery
Trailer
English subtitles for hearing impaired (feature only)
The Essential Michael Haneke (Artificial Eye): A substantial 10-disc box set entitled of the Austrian director’s work which includes all his previously released films including both the original and American re-make of Funny Games, his breakthrough film, and his adaptation of The Castle, based on the unfinished novel by Franz Kafka, which is released for the first time in the UK as part of this set.
The collection contains the following:
The Seventh Continent
Benny’s Video
71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance
Funny Games (Original)
The Castle
Code Unknown
The Piano Teacher
Time of the Wolf, Hidden and Funny Games US.
Extra features on individual discs are identical to the original releases, with the addition of the previously unreleased documentary called ’24 Realities per Second’, which is a 60 minute documentary on Haneke and which has never been seen before on these shores.
At a whopping £74.99 it is pricey in these recessionary times, but this Haneke is one of Europe’s most accomplished living directors. The release of this coincides with Artificial Eye’s theatrical release of Haneke’s Palme D’Or winning film, The White Ribbon. [Buy on DVD]
The Complete Fritz Lang Mabuse Boxset (Eureka/Masters of Cinema): Throughout his career director Fritz Lang built a trilogy of thrillers focused on an entity who began as a criminal mastermind, and progressed into something more amorphous: fear itself, embodied only by a name – Dr. Mabuse. For the first time on DVD, all three of Fritz Lang’s Mabuse films have been collected for one package, in their complete and restored forms.
Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler [Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler] (1922) – Lang’s two-part, nearly 5-hour silent epic detailing the rise and fall of Dr. Mabuse in Weimar-era Berlin.
Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse [The Testament of Dr. Mabuse] (1933) – A thriller with supernatural elements, all revolving around an attempt by the now-institutionalised Mabuse (or someone acting under his name and possibly his will) to organise an “Empire of Crime”.
Die 1000 Augen des Dr. Mabuse [The 1000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse] (1960) – Fritz Lang’s final film, in which hypnosis, clairvoyance, surveillance, and machine-guns come together for a whiplash climax that answers the question: Who’s channelling Mabuse’s methods in the Cold War era?
A four-disc set, the features include:
Original German-language intertitles for ‘Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler’ along with newly translated English-language subtitles for each film
Newly recorded feature-length audio commentaries on all three movies by film-scholar and Fritz Lang expert David Kalat
Three video-featurettes totalling an hour-and-a-half in length on: the score of Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler; the creation of Norbert Jacques’ “Mabuse” character; and the motifs running throughout the works
2002 video interview with Wolfgang Preiss, the star of Die 1000 Augen des Dr. Mabuse
An alternate ending to Die 1000 Augen des Dr. Mabuse taken from the French print of the film
Optional English-language dub track for Die 1000 Augen des Dr. Mabuse
3 lengthy booklets containing a new translation of Fritz Lang’s 1924 lecture on “Sensation Culture”; an essay by critic and scholar Michel Chion on the use of sound in Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse; new writing on Die 1000 Augen des Dr. Mabuse by critic David Cairns; extracts from period interviews with Fritz Lang; an abundance of production stills, illustrations, and marketing collateral – and more.
All three films are presented in their complete and restored forms, refreshed and improved from previous Eureka releases of the first two films. Die 1000 Augen des Dr. Mabuse is released here for the first time ever on home video in the UK. [Buy on DVD]
Coraline(Universal): Based on the book by Neil Gaiman, this stop-motion animation written and directed by Henry Selick follows an adventurous girl named Coraline who finds another world that is a strangely idealized version of her frustrating home, but has sinister secrets.
Available on 1-Disc DVD (£19.99 RRP), 2-Disc Limited Edition DVD (£19.99 RRP) and Blu-ray Disc (£24.99 RRP), the 2-Disc DVD and Blu-ray Disc release will include both the 2-D and 3-D version of the main feature and 4 pairs of 3-D glasses. Got that? Phew.
Features on all of the different versions are as follows:
1-Disc DVD – Includes the 2-D version of the main feature and the following extras:
Deleted Scenes
The Making of Coraline
Feature Commentary with Director Henry Selick and Composer Bruno Coulais
2-Disc Limited Edition DVD – As above plus a second disc with the 3-D version of the main feature and 4 pairs of 3-D glasses.
Blu-ray Disc – Includes both the 2-D and 3-D versions of the main feature plus 4 pairs of 3-D glasses. Features include:
2-D and 3-D Presentations
1080P 1.85:1 Widescreen
English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
French, Italian, German, Spanish and Dutch 5.1 Dolby Digital
English SDH, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Korean, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Dutch, Greek and Traditional Chinese subtitles
U Control – Picture in Picture (2-D Feature Only)
U Control – Tours and Voice Sessions (2-D Feature Only)
U Control – Picture in Picture Animatic (2-D Feature Only)
Deleted Scenes
The Making of Coraline – Director and screenwriter Henry Selick hosts this behind the scenes feature about how this hand-crafted, stop-motion animated film was made
BD Exclusive: Voicing the Characters – Coraline’s acclaimed cast and filmmaker Henry Selick talk about their experiences working on the film, including defining the perfect voice for their characters
BD Exclusive: Creepy Coraline – Director and screenwriter Henry Selick and Coraline author Neil Gaiman take fans deeper into the darker intricacies of Coraline’s alternative worlds
Feature Commentary with Director Henry Selick and Composer Bruno Coulais
Looking For Eric (Icon): The unlikely pairing of French footballer Eric Cantona and English director Ken Loach is the tale of a Manchester postman (Steve Evets) undergoing a midlife crisis. When his idol Cantona appears to him in a series of visions, he manages to inspire him with his distinctive brand of philosophy.
Although much of the publicity surrounding the film focused on ‘King Eric’, the two real stars are Steve Evets and Stephanie Bishop who deliver excellent performances. It also features the hallmarks of Loach’s best work: sensitive treatment of social issues; well rounded characters with believable flaws; and a lack of cheap sentiment.
The script by Paul Laverty deserves a lot of credit for working in social issues (gun crime, football ownership) alongside some of Cantona’s reflections on life and existence in a way that isn’t forced or cheesy. Whilst some of the reactions at the Cannes film festival were correct in observing that it is lighter than usual for a Loach film, that is no bad thing as it contains some marvellous feel good scenes (especially the climax).
Synecdoche, New York (Revolver): Charlie Kaufman‘s directorial debut (pronounced “Syn-ECK-duh-kee”) is so Kaufman-esque that it takes his ideas to another level of strangeness. The story centres around theatre director Caden Cotard (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who starts to re-evaluate life after his health and marriage start to break down. He receives a grant to do something artistically adventurous and decides to stage an enormously ambitious production inside a giant warehouse.
What follows is a strange and often baffling movie, complete with the kind of motifs that are peppered throughout Kaufman’s scripts: someone lives in a house oblivious to the fact that it is permanently on fire; a theatrical venue the size of several aircraft hangars is casually described as a place where Shakespeare is performed; and visitors to an art gallery view microscopic paintings with special goggles.
But despite the oddities and the Chinese-box narrative, this is a film overflowing with invention and ideas. It explores the big issues of life and death but also examines the nature of art and performance – a lot of the film, once it goes inside the warehouse, is a mind-boggling meditation on our lives as a performance.
Imagine The Truman Show rewritten by Samuel Beckett and directed by Luis Buñuel and you’ll get some idea of what Kaufman is aiming for here. I found a lot of the humour very funny, but the comic sensibility behind the jokes is dry and something of an acquired taste. Much of the film hinges on Seymour Hoffman’s outstanding central performance in which he conveys the vulnerability and determination of a man obsessed with doing something worthwhile before he dies.
The makeup for the characters supervised by Mike Marino is also first rate, creating a believable ageing process whilst the sets are also excellent, even if some of the CGI isn’t always 100% convincing. The supporting cast is also impressive: Catherine Keener, Michelle Williams, Samantha Morton, Emily Watson, Hope Davis, Tom Noonan and Dianne Weist all contribute fine performances and fit nicely into the overall tone of the piece. Although the world Kaufman creates will alienate some viewers, it slowly becomes a haunting meditation on how humans age and die.
Revolver Entertainment are releasing it, priced at £19.99 RRP on DVD and £24.99 RRP on Blu-ray Disc.
Extras include:
Infectious Diseases In Cattle: Bloggers’ Roundtable
Directed by Andrzej Wajda, it stars Artur Zmijewski, Andrzej Chyra and explores the continuing struggle over the memory of the event as well as the Russian cover up that prevented Poles from commemorating those that had been killed.
Available on DVD, although there hasn’t been a Blu-ray announced yet, the extras include an interview with the director and a making of featurette. Unlike some editions of the film Artificial Eye have presented this in the proper aspect ratio of 2:35.
Beaufort(Trinity): Although already out on regular DVD, the Blu-ray release of this 2007 drama is just coming out now.
The new Blu-ray is playable in all regions and the transfer is presented at 1.85:1 rather than the theatrical 2.35:1 aspect ratio and the audio has both 2.0 and 5.1 DTS HD Audio Master mixes (the DVD release only had a Dolby Digital 2.0 track).
The extras include:
A Making of Featurette (23:42): This has interviews, footage of the sets being built and some scenes being shot.
Deleted Scenes (16:41): A couple of which are extended scenes, which fill out the characters a bit more.
Trailers: There is a short trailer (1:24) and a long trailer (2:09) for the film.
Time Bandits(Optimum): Terry Gilliam‘s 1981 fantasy film, which he co-wrote with Michael Palin, tells the story of a group of dwarves who leave their jobs with ‘The Supreme Being’ for a life of crime with a map they’ve stolen from their workplace.
The map holds the secrets to time-holes in the fabric of creation, allowing the holders to go forward and back as they please. One such journey lands them in the bedroom of a young boy Kevin (Craig Warnock), who joins them on their journey.
The New World – Extended Cut (EIV): New Line and UK distributors Entertainment have finally got around to releasing the extended cut of Terrence Malick‘s wonderful 2005 version of the Pocahontas story on DVD and Blu-ray.
The performances from Farrell, Plummer and Bale are nicely restrained, whilst Kilcher is terrific, bringing an impressive depth of feeling to her role.
James Horner’s score, alongside some judicious use of Wagner, is probably the greatest he’s ever written with a thrilling use of strings and melody.
When the film premiered in late 2005 in New York and Los Angeles with a running time of somewhere around 2 hour 30 minutes, Malick decided to cut it down by about 15 minutes for the wider release.
I remember going to a BAFTA screening in November 2005 and I caught the longer cut and when I saw the initial DVD release in 2006, it seemed a little cut down, although it isn’t the kind of film where the cuts were immediately apparent.
The ‘Extended Cut’ on the Blu-ray is the same the DVD released at October 14, 2008 which is almost 22 minutes longer than the original extended cut.
This is the kind of film that could have been made to highlight the Blu-ray format because the stunning cinematography )all shot on Steadicam using natural light) is a key element in the film’s power.
The new Blu-ray is a 1080P transfer the sharpens everything up in terms of colour and resolution.
DVD Beaver has posted some screen captures comparing the DVD and Blu-ray versions and they also note that grain is not as prevalent as expected and note that the audio is a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track at 1437 kbps.
The extras on the Blu-ray Disc include:
Behind The Story – Making ‘The New World’: A comprehensive 10-part documentary about the making of the film that expands by about 20 minutes on the original making-of doc on the original 2006 DVD release.
Theatrical trailers (x2)
Ran (Optimum): Akira Kurosawa’s classic 1985 drama is a loose re-imagining of the legends of the daimyoMōri Motonari and Shakespeare’s King Lear.
This new Blu-ray release follows an aging Sengoku-era warlord (Tatsuya Nakadai) who decides to abdicate as ruler in favour of his three sons and the subsequent chaos that is unleashed on his kingdom.
Returning to the Shakespearean themes he had previously explored in Throne of Blood, this was Kurosawa’s last major epic and silenced doubters who felt he couldn’t work in colour.
After a glittering career as one of world cinema’s most acclaimed directors, by the late 1970s Kurosawa had been struggling with numerous personal and professional problems which saw him have difficulty in getting financing for his films.
That changed with Kagemusha (1980), the story of a man passed off as a medieval Japanese lord, and it was financed with the help of the director’s most famous admirers, George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola.
Ran explored similar aspects of medieval Japan but was bigger and more ambitious in scope, to the point that he spent nearly a decade planning it and trying to obtain funding.
With the help of French producer Serge Silberman, he finally managed to get it in production and the result was a stunning epic filled with memorable compositions and haunting performances.
For the Blu-ray Disc the specs and extras include:
1080P Widescreen
Japanese 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
Japanese, English, French, German, Spanish (Castilian) and Italian 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio
Art of the Samurai: Interview with J.C. Charbonnier (41mins, NEW)
The Epic and the Intimate: Documentary on Kurosawa (50mins, NEW)
Interview with Kurosawa by Catherine Cadou (13mins, NEW)
AK documentary by Chris Marker (70mins)
The Samurai (52mins, NEW)
BD-Live (DynamicHD)
Booklet: Analysis by David Jenkins, writer and critic for Time Out London magazine (NEW)
Excerpts from an interview with Paul Verhoven (NEW)
The Deer Hunter (Optimum): The winner of Best Picture at the 1978 Oscars still remains a powerful and moving drama about the effects of war on a tightly-knit community.
However, the film has always had a noisy band of critics from the ludicrous gang of socialist delegates at the 1979 Berlin film festival who protested against the screening of the film – feeling obliged to voice their solidarity with the “heroic people of Vietnam”.
After Cimino’s epic fall from grace with Heaven’s Gate (1980), the knives came out as revisionists attacked the film: the Russian roulette sequence was historically inaccurate; the lead characters were too old; and of course the hoary old critique – beloved of contrarians apparently grasping at profundity – that it was somehow racist in its depiction of the North Vietnamese.
Some of these criticisms can be refuted by the fact that it is a work of imagination, not documentary, and that it isn’t actually about the politics of the Vietnam War.
Given the lies and political deceptions that created and prolonged the conflict, it is perhaps understandable that justifiable anger would spill out into discourse about the first major film to feature it as a backdrop.
But it isn’t a defence of US involvement in South East Asis and, if anything, is something of a cautionary tale of how innocence and idealism – very American virtues after World War II – can be devoured by the horrors of war.
If a film like The Green Berets (1968) was a deluded depiction of what some Americans actually thought was going on in Vietnam, The Deer Hunter represents the painful cultural hangover the nation felt at losing their first war.
Over thirty years on from its release, there is still a powerful sense of existential dread within the film which has probably been felt by any community scarred by sending its people off to war, be it Vietnam, Iraq or Afghanistan.
Rather than being a sentimental celebration of fallen soldiers, it remains a haunting portrayal of patriotic ignorance being slowly crushed by the reality of armed conflict.
With a running time just over three hours, it is a slow and meditative epic filled with memorable images that were superbly shot by Vilmos Zsigmond and the Blu-ray does real justice to his visuals.
Some of the extras have appeared on previous versions by Warner and Optimum but for the Blu-ray Disc some new ones have been added.
The most interesting of these is a French documentary about the Vietnam War called ‘Unknown Images’ which is gives valuable context to what they describe as an ‘abominable war’.
Realising the Deer Hunter: Interview with Michael Cimino (23 mins)
Shooting the Deer Hunter: Interview with Cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond (15 mins)
Playing The Deer Hunter: Interview with John Savage (15 mins)
Unknown Images: Documentary on the Vietnam War (47 mins, NEW)
Introduction by Mickey Rourke (2 ½ mins, NEW)
Trailer
BD-Live (DynamicHD)
Booklet: Analysis by Ryan Gilbey, film critic of the New Statesman (NEW)
An American Werewolf in London (Universal): A fully remastered re-release on Blu-ray for John Landis’ 1981 werewolf horror is most welcome, especially as it has a new set of extras including a feature-length documentary ‘Beware the Moon’ and a featurette ‘I Walked With a Werewolf’.
The plot involves two US tourists named David and Jack (David Naughton and Griffin Dunne) who are attacked by a werewolf on the Yorkshire Moors. Jack dies but David survives and is taken to London where he falls in love with a nurse (Jenny Agutter). However, after dark dreams and visions he slowly realises he has become a creature of the night, wreaking havoc on the British capital.
Interestingly 1981 was the year of two other werewolf films (The Howling and Wolfen) but this one has accumulated a particular cult following due to its killer blend of scary horror (watch out for the curtains) and humour which is often at its best when you are least expecting it.
The other aspect of the film that is notable is the groundbreaking use of makeup and visual effects by Rick Baker. The famous transformation sequence was actually a major factor in makeup and industry technological contributions being recognized at the Academy Awards in 1981 as Baker won the first ever Oscar to be awarded to a special effects artist.
Landis has been effusive about the quality of the transfer to Blu-ray as he revealed in this interview with /Film at FrightFest last month in London:
French (European), German and Italian 2.0 Mono DTS
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Latin American Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese, Traditional Chinese, Canadian French, Greek
I Walked With A Werewolf (New) (HD) – Make-up effects artist Rick Baker tells of his life-long love of the Wolfman, how he would go on to create the creature in An American Werewolf in London, and how he was able to pour his passion into the upcoming Wolfman feature.
Beware The Moon (New) – In this feature-length documentary, filmmaker Paul Davis guides us through a never-before-seen, in-depth look at the Making of An American Werewolf in London, with the help of director John Landis and make-up artist Rick Bake
Making An American Werewolf in London, An Original Featurette
An Interview With John Landis
Make-up Artist Rick Baker On An American Werewolf in London
Casting of the Hand
Outtakes
Storyboards
Photograph Montage
Feature Commentary with Cast Members David Naughton & Griffin Dunne
Belle De Jour (Optimum): Another classic gets re-rleased by Optimum this week and this 1967 drama from director Luis Bunuel still exudes a classy eroticism.
Catherine Deneuve plays a frigid housewife whose sexual fantasies come true when she opts to become the high class call girl of the title during the day and a loyal housewife at night.
From the famous opening scene to the later stages, Bunuel creates a telling portrait of a suffocating bourgeois life (aided by the magnificent cinematography by Sacha Vierny) but also subverts many of the audience assumptions in the surrealist fashion distinctive of his other work.
Deneuve gives an immaculate performance in what is probably her most iconic role, her icy beauty sometimes overshadowing the subtleties of what is arguably her finest performance.
It is a film that repays repeated viewings, not only for the little enigmas that are peppered throughout (such as that mysterious box) but for the questions it raises about desire and fantasy which retain a lasting power.
The Blu-ray transfer is impressive and the specs and extra features are:
1080P Widescreen
French 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio
Subtitles: English, German, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
The Last Script (1hr 34 mins, NEW)
Commentary from Spanish Cinema expert: Professor William Evans
Story of a Film documentary (29 mins)
Theatrical trailer
A Story of Perversion or Emancipation: Interview with a sex therapist (28 mins, NEW) (HD)
BD Live (DynamicHD)
Booklet: Analysis of the movie by Derek Malcolm, film critic of the Guardian for 35 years and now critic of the London Evening Standard (NEW)
The Prisoner (Network): Network have announced the release of the complete series of The Prisoner on Blu-ray Disc. This iconic cult series starring Patrick McGoohan as a former spy taken prisoner in a mysterious village, marks Network’s first foray into the Blu-ray market.
The 6-disc limited edition box set is priced at £59.99 RRP and this is the first Blu-ray version of the series anywhere in the world and is the only home entertainment edition of the series to be officially endorsed by McGoohan.
Containing all seventeen episodes, extras on the set are as follows:
“Don’t Knock Yourself Out” a feature-length documentary which is the most comprehensive look at the production of ‘The Prisoner’, told by those involved in its creation
Restored original edit of ‘Arrival’ with an optional music-only soundtrack featuring Wilfred Josephs’ complete and abandoned score
Production Crew audio commentaries on seven episodes
Trailers for all episodes
Archive textless material, including the title sequence with clean themes by Ron Grainer, Wilfred Josephs and Robert Farnon
Commercial Break Bumpers
Behind-the-Scenes footage including much previously unseen
Script and Production Documentation PDFs
Image Galleries with Music Suites
Exclusive book on the making of the series by TV historian Andrew Pixley
Dolby Digital 5.1 sound mixes on all episodes + the original Mono
Five Minutes of Heaven (Element Pictures): Although UK audiences may have already seen it earlier this year on BBC2, this powerful drama about a perpetrator and victim of violence during the Troubles meeting decades later is worth catching on DVD, especially as it didn’t have the publicity push here that a theatrical release provides (although IFC did distribute it in the US).
Inspired by true events, it begins with the murder of teenager in October 1975, witnessed by the victim’s younger brother, and it sees the killer go to jail for 10 years.
Flashing forward to the future it then explores the imagined encounter between the killer (Liam Neeson) and the victim’s brother (James Nesbitt), when they eventually meet for a television documentary 33 years after the murder.
Directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, it features two excellent performances from Neeson and Nesbit and a script by Guy Hibbert that skilfully avoids many of the pitfalls involved in bringing episodes of The Troubles to the screen.
The title comes from Hibbert’s research, which involved three years of interviews with the actual Alistair Little and Joe Griffin, which resulted in details of what might happen if they ever met in real life (which is unlikely). Griffin has said he’d probably kill Little, something he feels would provide “five minutes of heaven.”
Although the subject matter is going to be a turn off to some viewers wanting an easy night in, the film represents another intelligent exploration of the dark and tortuous history of The Troubles, following such films as Hunger, Omagh and Bloody Sunday.
It is available on DVD and the features include:
Anamorphic Widescreen
English DD 2.0
Interviews
Trailer
In This World (ICA): Michael Winterbottom’s 2002 docu-drama follows the journey of two young Afghan refugees, Jamal Udin Torabi and Enayatullah, as they travel from a camp in Pakistan for a better life in London.
The film does an impressive job of showing how difficult and fraught with danger the journey immigrants take and the fluid, hand-held style gives it an extra jolt of realism. Added to this is the clever use of non-professional actors who play fictionalised versions of themselves.
Although it played well at film festivals in 2002, even winning the Golden Bear at Berlin in 2003, the subject matter and style meant that it didn’t set the box office alight. However, this re-issue on DVD by the ICA is well worth checking out.
Incidentally writer Tony Grisoni told me earlier this year that this was one of the best film experiences he ever had.
The feature is presented in Anamorphic widescreen with stereo sound and the extras include:
Trailer
A behind-the-scenes with Michael Winterbottom and Tony Grisoni documentary (31mins)
Filmographies
Stills gallery
Sunrise (Eureka/Masters of Cinema): F. W. Murnau‘s classic 1927 film is often a regular in lists of ‘the greatest films ever made‘ and has long been considered to be the finest silent film produced by a Hollywood studio.
Based on the Hermann Sudermann novel ‘A Trip to Tilsit’, it is the tale of a peasant couple (George O’Brien and Janet Gaynor) threatened by a Machiavellian seductress from the city (Margaret Livingston).
A milestone of film expressionism, it was made in the twilight of the silent era and became something of a swan song for the vanishing medium.
It was met with instant acclaim and won three Oscars for Best Actress (Gaynor), Cinematography, and a never-repeated award for “Unique and Artistic Picture” (although Best Picture went out to the more financially successful Wings).
Beyond the Clouds (Second Sight): Near the end of his professional career in 1995, Michelangelo Antonioni embarked on this co-project with Wim Wenders, an erotic drama based on his own short stories, which includes four tales linked by a director (John Malkovich) in search of his next picture.
Included on this release is ‘To Make A Film Is To Be Alive’ a 52 minute documentary and an audio essay by Seymour Chatman (author of Antonioni: The Complete Films), along with a with production stills gallery.
Although not in the same league as Antonioni’s very best work, it is a fascinating project with some marvellous visuals, aided by an evocative score featuring memorable contributions from Brian Eno and U2 (aka Passengers).
Is Anybody There? (Optimum): Set in a sleepy British seaside town in the 1980s, this drama tells the story of a morbid, bookish 10-year-old boy Edward (Bill Milner) who becomes increasingly obsessed with the afterlives of the residents of the old peoples’ home which his parents run, until he is distracted by the arrival of ‘The Amazing’ Clarence (Michael Caine), an anarchic retired magician and grieving widower who is determined to age disgracefully.
Leon (Optimum): The Blu-ray release for Luc Besson‘s 1994 thriller is part of a bunch of releases for the French director. Given the lacklustre quality of his recent output, it is worth revisiting this sharply written tale of a French hitman (Jean Reno) in New York befriending a young girl (Natalie Portman), whose family have been killed by corrupt cops (led by a splendidly nuttyGary Oldman).
Although the HD transfer has got mixed to negative reviews, the quality of the film makes it worth buying as it probably won’t get a re-release for a while.
The extras and technical specs are:
Theatrical & Director’s Cut Versions
1080P 2.35:1 Widescreen
English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio & 2.0 Stereo LPCM
Optional English subtitles (only on Director’s Cut)
Set in a sleepy British seaside town in the 1980s, it tells the story of a morbid, bookish 10-year-old boy Edward (Bill Milner) who becomes increasingly obsessed with the afterlives of the residents of the old peoples’ home which his parents run, until he is distracted by the arrival of “The Amazing” Clarence (Michael Caine), an anarchic retired magician and grieving widower who is determined to age disgracefully.
As an unlikely friendship blossoms between them, the old man comes to terms with his past, the child masters his fear of the future, and both learn to seize the day.
Extras include:
Interview with Michael Caine
Interview with John Crowley
Interview with Bill Milner
Interview with Ann-Marie Duff
Theatrical Trailer
TV Spots
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To stand a chance of winning a copy just answer this question:
Which 2008 film starred Michael Caine alongside Christian Bale?
This Is Spinal Tap – Up To 11 Edition (Optimum): A re-release for the classic 1984 spoof music documentary which stars Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer as the three members of fictional heavy-metal/hard rock band Spinal Tap.
Directed by Rob Reiner it remains a brilliantly observed look at the pretentious glory of rock and roll and fully justifies it’s hallowed status amongst audiences the world over.
Limited Edition customised fully working Marshall amp (going up to 11)
Numbered speciall amp packaging
7 original art cards
5 Disc Stonehenge digi pack – including:
Discs 1-3 – DVD content as per the 3-Disc DVD box-set (detailed below)
Disc 4: The Blu-ray of ‘This Is Spinal Tap’
Disc 5: The Original Soundtrack CD
Extras on the Blu-ray Disc (all on a single-disc with the film) and the 3 DVD box-set include:
Disc 1:
Fully re-mastered feature
This is Spinal Tap: Up to 11 – Brand new 25th Anniversary Documentary feat. Ricky Gervais, Eddie Izzard, Martin Freeman, Anvil, Serge Pizzorno and more (43 mins)
Audio Commentary by the band
Menu commentary by the band
Go To 11 – Menu animation feature
Disc 2:
The Return of Spinal Tap Royal Albert Hall concert (57 mins)
2007 Live Earth footage & Live Earth reunion short film (4 mins 20)
National Geographic Stonehenge interviews with Nigel (9 mins 1)
Sprinkle some ****in Fairy Dust On It – interview with Reg Presley of The Troggs (6 mins 54)
Disc 3:
Outtakes** (1 hr 7 mins)
Original Trailers (7 mins)
4 x Music Videos (12 mins 27)
TV Spots (1 min 37)
Cutting Room Floor Deleted Scenes incl Heavy Metal Memories, Flower People, Cheese Roll trailer
EPK featurettes (20 mins 50)
Creative Meeting & Bitch School Videos (4 mins 33)
DVD Specs:
1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
English DD5.1 Surround
English and French DD2.0 Stereo
Subtitles (Main Feature): Danish, French, German, Norwegian, Finnish, Swedish
Subtitles (Extras & Commentary): French, German
Blu-ray Specs:
1080P 1.85:1 Widescreen
English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
English and French Stereo LPCM
Subtitles (Main Feature): Danish, French, German, Norwegian, Finnish, Swedish
Subtitles (Extras & Commentary): French, German
Perhaps the highlight of the new package is the Outtakes which include many scenes which didn’t make the final cut including:
Although some changes to the actual events reduce the film’s overall impact the performances and direction make this a fairly substantial drama. It isn’t in the same league as ‘Bloody Sunday’ or ‘Hunger’ but remains a compelling portrait of one particular episode within the Troubles.
Available on DVD (£15.99 RRP) and Blu-ray Disc (£19.99 RRP), it contains the following extras:
Commentary with Director Kari Skogland
On set with ‘Fifty Dead Men Walking’
Exclusive extract from the book ‘Fifty Dead Men Walking’
Gladiator (Universal): The Blu-ray release for Ridley Scott’s Oscar-winning Roman epic has arguably been one of the most anticipated releases of the new format.
Russell Crowe stars as Maximus, a Roman general who is betrayed, has his family killed and is sold into to slavery by a corrupt prince, before eventually returning to Rome as a gladiator seeking revenge.
There has been a big debate on various Blu-ray and Hi-def sites about the quality of the transfer used for this release with some suggesting that it is good, whilst others are critical of Paramount (who own the film after acquiring DreamWorks in 2005, even though Universal is releasing it in the UK), accusing them of cutting corners in the process.
However, it is likely to be a big seller, not least because of the wealth of extras, which are as follows.
Tech Details
1080P 2.35:1 Widescreen
English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese & Latin American Spanish 5.1 DTS Surround
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Brazilian, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese, Traditional Chinese, Latin American Spanish
Disc One
Theatrical Version (155mins)
Audio Commentary by Director Ridley Scott, Cinematographer John Mathieson & Editor Pietro Scalia
Deleted Scenes with optional commentary
Extended Version (171mins)
Introduction by Ridley Scott
Audio Commentary by Ridley Scott & Russell Crowe
U-Control features on both Theatrical and Extended versions
The Scrolls of Knowledge – The original Are You Not Entertained? trivia track newly enhanced allowing viewers to access a series of new behind-the-scenes featurettes exploring key scenes throughout the film
Visions from Elysium: Topic Marker – A U-Control feature that allows Disc One Viewers to tag moments of interest throughout the entire film, allowing them to create “shopping lists” of topics to learn more about from the features on Disc Two
Disc Two
Visions from Elysium – A U-Control feature that automatically accesses further content from tagged moments of interest that have been marked by viewers from Disc One
Strength and Honour: Creating the World of Gladiator (200 mins.) – The definitive documentary on the origin, production and impact of this Oscar-winning Best Picture
Tale of the Scribes: Story Development
The Tools of War: Weapons
Attire of the Realm: Costume Design
The Heat of Battle: Production Journals Germania / Zucchabar / Rome
Shadows and Dust: Resurrecting Proximo
The Glory of Rome: Visual Effects
Echoes in Eternity: Release and Impact
Strength and Honour will now include all-new Picture-In-Picture content accessed via U-Control (156mins)
Aurelian Archive
The Making of Gladiator (25 mins.)
Gladiator Games: The Roman Bloodsport (50mins.)
Hans Zimmer: Scoring Gladiator (21 mins.)
Maximus Uncut: Between the Takes with Russell Crowe (8mins.)
My Gladiator Journal by Spencer Treat Clark (Text/Photos) – The personal diary of the young actor who played Lucius, providing a unique and amusing perspective on the creation of an epic film
VFX Explorations: Germania & Rome (24 mins.)
Image and Design
Production Design Featurette and Galleries (10 mins.)
Storyboard Demonstration (14 mins.)
Multi-Angle Storyboard Comparisons and Galleries (15 mins. x 2 angles)
Adapted by Peter Morgan and directed Tom Hooper (best known for his TV miniseries work on Longford and John Adams) it is out this week on DVD and Blu-ray in the UK and gets its North American premiere at the upcoming Toronto Film Festival.
I spoke with Tom recently about the film and you can listen to the interview here:
Encounters at the End of the World (Revolver): The latest documentary from Werner Herzog is a remarkable film which sees the German director and cinematographer Peter Zeitlinger go to Antarctica to meet people who live and work there. A fascinating antidote to March of the Penguins, it features some marvellous observations and meditations set alongside some stunning footage of the continent at the bottom of the world.
It is available on DVD and Blu-ray Disc and there is also a larger Herzog boxset Revolver are releasing called Werner Herzog’sEncounters in the Natural World – a special edition 5-disc box-set available on DVD and Blu-Ray that includes five Herzog films exploring the natural world.
The films included are Encounters at the End of the World and the following:
Grizzly Man: The acclaimed portrait of Timothy Treadwell, a charismatic bear enthusiast who lived amongst these powerful predators in remote parts of Alaska for thirteen summers, before succumbing to their ferocious nature.
The White Diamond: The visually stunning story of Graham Dorrington’s quest to fl y a custom-built airship over the rain forest canopies of Guyana, whilst battling to overcome the haunting memories of a similar expedition that ended tragically with the death of his friend.
La Soufriére: As a volcano is about to erupt on the island of Guadaloupe, all inhabitants fl ee for their lives, apart from one man who refuses to leave and accepts his fate at the hands of nature.
The Flying Doctors of East Africa: Herzog’s stunning portrait of the fl ying doctors service of the African Medicinal Research Foundation, and the people who devote their lives to it.
Additionally, this version of the film has been completely restored and struck from a completely different (and superior) master to the previous Argent Films DVD release.
Adapted by Peter Morgan and directed Tom Hooper (best known for his TV miniseries work on Longford and John Adams) it lacks the dark, interior qualities that made the book so riveting but features some excellent performances.
Sheen does a fantastic job in the title role, bringing the same kind of charm and authenticity that featured in his previous portrayals of Tony Blair and David Frost. There are also some excellent supporting turns from Colm Meaney as Don Revie and Jim Broadbent as Sam Longson.
DVD Extras
1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
English DD5.1 Surround
English, English HOH and Hindi subtitles
Commentary with Director Tom Hooper, Michael Sheen and Producer Andy Harries
Deleted Scenes with Optional Director’s Commentary
Cloughisms with Optional Director’s Commentary
Perfect Pitch: The Making Of The Damned United
Remembering Brian
The Changing Game: Football in the Seventies
Creating Clough: Michael Sheen Takes on ‘Old Big ‘Ead’
Blu-ray Disc – Coded for all regions (A, B and C), features include:
1080P 1.85:1 Widescreen
English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD
English Audio Description Track
English, English HOH and Hindi subtitles
Commentary with Director Tom Hooper, Michael Sheen and Producer Andy Harries
Deleted Scenes with Optional Director’s Commentary
Cloughisms with Optional Director’s Commentary
Perfect Pitch: The Making Of The Damned United
Remembering Brian
The Changing Game: Football in the Seventies
Creating Clough: Michael Sheen Takes on ‘Old Big ‘Ead’
In The Loop(Optimum): The directorial debut of Armando Iannucci is a marvellous political satire exploring the the inner mechanics of the ‘special relationship’ between London and Washington in the build up to a war in the Middle East.
The plot follows government officials and spin doctors in their behind-the-scenes efforts either to promote the war or prevent it. The cast is excellent with fine performances from Tom Hollander, James Gandolfini, Chris Addison, Peter Capaldi, Anna Chlumsky, Gina McKee, Steve Coogan and David Rasche.
The hilarity of the comedy is only matched by the political savvy of Iannucci’s script which ultimately reveals some sad truths about the craven subservience of Tony Blair’s government to the Bush administration in the build up to the Iraq war.
On Blu-ray the film is presented in 1080P Widescreen with English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, English 2.0 PCM Stereo, English Audio Description and English HOH subtitles (film only). The disc is coded for Region B.
Shifty (Metrodome): A low budget urban thriller from writer/director Eran Creevy set on the outskirts of London, where it follows themes of friendship and loyalty over the course of 24 hours in the life of a young drug dealer, the charismatic “Shifty”.
is a new British film about a young drug dealer (Riz Ahmed) in a town just outside London who sees his life spiral out of control when his best friend (Daniel Mays) returns home.
As it is a woeful week for DVD releases (is everyone on holiday?) this weeks picks are Blu-ray only. A further piece of bad news is that although these three films are worth getting, they don’t have any extras so you may want to get the special edition DVD versions (which I’ve linked to below).
BLU-RAY PICKS
Angel Heart (Optimum): Mickey Rourke stars as hard-bitten private dick Harry Angel in director Alan Parker’s moody atmospheric 1987 thriller. Robert De Niro, Lisa Bonet and Charlotte Rampling complete the cast of this supernatural detective story. (Special edition DVD available here).
La Haine (Optimum): A stunning 1995 crime drama shot in black and white verite style that follows a day in the life of three aimless, violence-prone, young men who hail from the same decaying housing project in Paris. Mathieu Kassovitz won the Best Director prize for his work on this at the Cannes Film Festival. (Special edition DVD available here)
Near Dark (Optimum): With her new film The Hurt Locker about to hit UK cinemas, director Kathryn Bigelow‘s 1987 horror film gets released on Blu-ray. The story is about a young cowboy (Adrian Pasdar) who is seduced by a vampire (Jenny Wright) and is persuaded to join up with a roaming band of ghouls before having to make some difficult choices. A stylish and brutal mixture of horror, western and action movie that ranks as one of the best horrors of the 1980s. (Special edition DVD available here)
Directed by James Gray, who has made films such as The Yards and We Own the Night, it is a pleasingly old fashioned and charming film with Phoenix excellent in the central role (easily his best since Walk The Line in 2005) and good work from Paltrow and Shaw.
The technical work (notice the lack of sets) and cinematography by Joaquin Baca–Asay are all first rate and although it didn’t get the love it deserved at cinemas, it is well worth checking out on DVD.
Whilst not as good as the first season, Duchovny is still very good value in the lead role and for people in the UK who didn’t catch it on Five, it is an amusing and well written series.
The cast is uniformly excellent and there are some striking visual images throughout, which makes it a refreshing change from the unimaginitive glut of remakes and horror porn that has been coming out of Hollywood in recent years.
The extras on DVD and Blu-ray include:
Commentary with Tomas Aldredson and John Ajvide Linqvist
Deleted Scenes
Theatrical Trailer
The DVD is presented in anamorphic widescreen with Swedish DD5.1 Surround audio and forced English subtitles (using the same translation as seen on the theatrical release).
Winstanley deals with some of the life story of, who, along with a small band of followers known as the Diggers who tried to establish a self-sufficient farming community on common land at St. George’s Hill near Cobham, Surrey.
The political turmoil of the English Civil War created a vacuum in which different religious and political conditions arose and this was a striking early form of Christian communism (centuries before Marx), although under the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell, it was quickly suppressed.
The film is an interesting snapshot of who the Diggers were and the making of it was also intriguing. Essentially a low-budget project sponsored by the BFI (which put up £17,000) it looks authentic and took 8 years to finish, as the cast had day jobs and shooting had to be done over an extended period of time.
It is available on regular DVD or Blu-ray Disc, and the extra features include:
DVD: Dolby Digital 2.0 (320kbps) / BD: PCM Audio
Optional English HOH subtitles
New restoration by the BFI National Archive
New filmed interview with Kevin Brownlow and Mollo (38 mins)
It Happened Here Again (Eric Mival, 1976, 48 mins) – the making of Winstanley
9 Dalmuir West (Kevin Brownlow, 1962, 12 mins) – a record of the last weekend of Glasgow trams
Illustrated 32-page booklet with contributions by Marina Lewycka (author of A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian), Eric Mival, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Tom Milne, and David Robinson; plus biographies and credits
Il Divo (Artificial Eye): A stunning biopic that explores the extraordinary career of former Italian prime minister Giulio Andreotti.
Spanning the period since the seventh election of Andreotti (brilliantly played by Toni Servillo) as Prime Minister of Italy in 1992, until the trial in which he was accused of collusion with the Mafia.
It was a firm favourite on the festival circuit in the past year and was nominated for the Palme D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008, where it won the Prix du Jury.
Although at times the action moves so fast that you need a PhD in modern Italian politics, it is brilliantly shot and edited, features a colossal central performance by Servillo and is directed with real panache by Paolo Sorrentino.
Easily one of the best films to be released in the UK this year, it fully deserved all the critical acclaim showered on it.
Extras include:
Anamorphic Widescreen
Stereo and 5.1
English subtitles
The making of Il Divo (31mins)
Additional interviews with director Paolo Sorrentino (29mins)
Watchmen (Paramount): The long awaited adaptation of the graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons finally reached cinema screens back in March after 20 years of development hell and legal wranglings and now gets the DVD and Blu-ray treatment.
For those unfamiliar with the story, it explores what happens to a group of superheroes in an alternative 1985 – a place where Richard Nixon is a 5-term president and the world stands on the brink of nuclear Armageddon.
The plot begins with the vigilante Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) investigating the murder of a former hero called the Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), and he uncovers a wider conspiracy involving his now retired colleagues.
The good news is that director Zack Snyder has been given unprecedented freedom with the notoriously ‘unfilmable’ book after the success of 300.
Visually it is a real treat with some stunning production design and SFX along with some fine performances by Jackie Earle Haley and Billy Crudup.
It runs to 2 hours and 40 minutes, has a sombre tone, keeps much of the heavy flashback material and – even for an 18/R-rated film – contains quite brutal scenes of violence, rape and even full frontal nudity.
Although there is a longer director’s cut still awaiting a UK release on DVD, Paramount have included a decent chunk of extras on the 2-disc DVD and Blu-ray versions.
Here is how the extras break down on the three different discs.
Spanning the period since the seventh election of Andreotti (brilliantly played by Toni Servillo) as Prime Minister of Italy in 1992, until the trial in which he was accused of collusion with the Mafia.
It was a firm favourite on the festival circuit in the past year and was nominated for the Palme D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008, where it won the Prix du Jury.
A worthy recipient of universal critical acclaim, it is a riveting story also notable for some dazzling camerawork and editing which make it one of the best films to be released in the UK this year.
Extras include:
Anamorphic Widescreen
Stereo and 5.1
English subtitles
The making of Il Divo (31mins)
Additional interviews with director Paolo Sorrentino (29mins)
Special effects featurette (7mins)
Deleted Scenes (12mins)
Trailer
To stand a chance of winning a copy just answer this question:
Dave Gibbons is the illustrator of Watchmen, the landmark graphic novel written by Alan Moore, which was adapted for the big screen earlier this year by director Zack Snyder.
Set in an alternate-history 1985, the story follows a group of former vigilante superheroes as tensions heighten between the USA and Soviet Union, while an investigation of an apparent conspiracy against them uncovers something sinister.
Although Moore declined to be involved with the film, Dave was consulted on various aspects, visiting the set and seeing a rough cut.
He also produced the behind-the-scenes book ‘Watching the Watchmen‘ to tie in with the release back in March.
Now with the release of the film on DVD and Blu-ray he will be appearing this weekend at Comic-Con in San Diego, where there will be a screening of the ‘director’s cut’ (which won’t be available on DVD for a while), before flying back to London in order to curate a 3-D graffiti art installation on the Southbank next Tuesday (28th).
I spoke with him on the phone recently about the upcoming launch of the DVD, the legacy of the original 12-part graphic novel, the long journey to get it made into a film and the whole business with the squid.
John From Cincinnati (HBO): One of the strangest shows in recent US television is this drama set in the surfing community of Imperial Beach, California which aired on HBO in the summer of 2007.
The brainchild of Deadwood creator David Milch, it deals with a strange young man of mysterious origin and the effect he has on a dysfunctional family of professional surfers.
The story revolves around three generations of surfers: Mitch Yost (Bruce Greenwood), an experienced surfing patriarch whose son, Butchie (Brian Van Holt), was equally promising before he got distracted by fast living and drugs.
Mitch and his wife Cissy (Rebecca De Mornay) look after their grandson Shaun (Greyson Fletcher), another surfing prodigy who Mitch tries to protect from Butchie’s fate and the people trying to latch on to him (such as a surf promoter played by Luke Perry).
Into all of this comes the strange figure of John (Austin Nichols), whose arrival in the community is a catalyst for some strange things.
The show premiered right after the famous (or infamous) Sopranos finale but audience and critical reaction was mixed meaning it only lasted a season before being cancelled.
Although by no means flawless, its strangeness is a virtue as you don’t often see things like this on TV – even from the enlightened halls of HBO.
It doesn’t reach the heights of Milch’s best work on NYPD Blue or Deadwood there is enough of interest to recommend it.
Extras include:
Audio Commentary of Episode 1 “His Visit: Day 1” with creator David Milch
Decoding John: The Making of a Dream Sequence
Audio Commentary on Episode 10 “His Visit Day 9” with creator David Milch
Cadillac Records (Sony): Abiopic written and directed by Darnell Martinthat explores the musical era from the early 1940s to the late 1960s, chronicling the life of the influential Chicago-based record-company executive Leonard Chess, and the singers who recorded for Chess Records.
Man of Iron (Mr Bongo Films): One of the most acclaimed films ever to come out of Poland, this Oscar nominated and Palme d’or winning drama is director Andrezj Wajda’s final film regarding the Solidarity Movement and its struggles to gain recognition in his native country.
Wajda’s epic follows on from his previous work Man Of Marble and continues the story of Maciej Tomczyk, a young worker involved in the anti-Communist labour movement.
Set in Warsaw during 1980, the story follows Winkel, an alcoholic TV hack sent by the Regime to Gdansk in order to dig up dirt on the shipyard strikes, particularly on Maciek, who has become an inspirational figure in the Union movement following the killing of his father in the December 1970 protests.
Posing as a sympathiser to the cause, Winkel interviews people who know Tomczyk, including his detained wife, in an effort to undermine and destroy the growing support behind the movement.
The film uses actual news footage of the 1968 and 1970 protests and of the later birth of free unions and Solidarity which it interweaves throughout the stories of a son coming to terms with his father, a couple falling in love, a reporter searching for courage and a nation undergoing historic change.
Religulous (Momentum): A smart and frequently hilarious documentary directed by Larry Charles in which US comedian Bill Maher explores the subject of religion.
Mad Men Season 2 (Lionsgate): The second season of the best show currently on television continues to explore the fictional Sterling Cooper advertising agency on New York City’s Madison Avenue during the early 1960s.
The story lines still centre around creative director Don Draper (Jon Hamm) and the people in his work and personal life.
With the action now moving to 1962, notable plot lines in the second season include more revelations about Don’s personal life and big changes at Sterling Cooper.
After the first season proved a huge critical hit, it won numerous awards including three Golden Globes, a BAFTA and six Emmys and became only the second cable series ever to win the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series.
US cable network AMC deserve a credit deal of credit for green lighting the show and when an HBO exec like Richard Plepler says: “Mad Men is a magnificent show, and the only problem with it is it’s not on HBO”, you know that the quality must be high.
The level of writing, direction, acting and production design is as good as anything you can currently see on TV or at the cinema.
The true genius of the show, created by Matthew Wiener, is that it manages to put a modern slant on the past by going beyond the period detail into something genuinely absorbing and profound.
The regular DVD has episodes are spread across three-discs presented in anamorphic widescreen with English DD5.1 Surround audio.
Extras include:
Those Who Think Young: Audio Commentary by Matthew Weiner
The Gold Violin: Audio Commentary by Matthew Weiner and Elisabeth Moss
Six Month Leave: Audio Commentary by Jon Hamm, John Slattery and Joel Murray
The Inheritance: Audio Commentary by Jon Hamm, January Jones and Vincent Kartheiser
“Birth of an Independent Woman, Part 1 and Part 2” – from housewives to working women, this featurette examines the rise of female independence in the Mad Men era
“An Era of Style” – featurette explores the fashion of the 1960’s and its lasting influence on designers today
On the Blu-ray Disc there are a few more extras, with a lot more audio commentaries:
For Those Who Think Young: Audio Commentary by Matthew Weiner
For Those Who Think Young: Audio Commentary by Jon Hamm and January Jones
Flight 1: Audio Commentary by Matthew Weiner and Jon Hamm
Flight 1: Audio Commentary by Lisa Albert and Vincent Kartheiser
The Benefactor: Audio Commentary by Matthew Weiner and Elisabeth Moss
The Benefactor: Audio Commentary by Lesli Linka Glatter, Melinda McGraw and Rich Sommer
Three Sundays: Audio Commentary by Matthew Weiner and Marie and Andre Jacques
Three Sundays: Audio Commentary by Elisabeth Moss and Colin Hanks
The New Girl: Audio Commentary by Jennifer Getzinger and Robin Veith
The New Girl: Audio Commentary by Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss and Melinda McGraw
Maidenform: Audio Commentary by Matthew Weiner and Robin Veith
Maidenform: Audio Commentary by Phil Abraham and Mark Moses
The Gold Violin: Audio Commentary by Matthew Weiner and Elisabeth Moss
The Gold Violin: Audio Commentary by Bob Levinson, Josh Weltman and Bryan Batt
A Night To Remember: Audio Commentary by Matthew Weiner and Robin Veith
A Night To Remember: Audio Commentary by Lesli Linka Glatter and January Jones
Six Month Leave: Audio Commentary by Matthew Weiner and Mike Uppendahl
Six Month Leave: Audio Commentary by Jon Hamm, John Slattery and Joel Murray
The Inheritance: Audio Commentary by Matthew Weiner and Lisa Albert
The Inheritance: Audio Commentary by Jon Hamm, January Jones and Vincent Kartheiser
The Jet Set: Audio Commentary by Matthew Weiner, Phil Abraham and David Carbonara
The Jet Set: Audio Commentary by Scott Hornbacher, Dan Bishop and Amy Wells
The Mountain King: Audio Commentary by Matthew Weiner and Blake McCormick
The Mountain King: Audio Commentary by Robin Veith, Christina Hendricks and Robert Morse
Meditations in an Emergency: Audio Commentary by Matthew Weiner and January Jones
Meditations in an Emergency: Audio Commentary by Kater Gordon, Elisabeth Moss and Vincent Kartheiser
“Birth of an Independent Woman, Part 1 and Part 2” – from housewives to working women, this featurette examines the rise of female independence in the Mad Men era
“An Era of Style” – featurette explores the fashion of the 1960’s and its lasting influence on designers today
”Time Capsule” – interactive featurettes paying homage to historical events of the 1960’s and the daring generation that lived through them
There are also supporting performances from Paul Bettany (as Prime Minister Lord Melbourne) and Miranda Richardson as Victoria’s mother, the Duchess of Kent.
Although it might look like a conventional costume drama, the level of acting is very strong and the unlikely combination of Graham King, Martin Scorsese and Sarah, Duchess of York as producers (an unlikely trio, to say the least), screenwriter Julian Fellowes (a shrewd observer of England’s social layers) and director Jean-Marc Vallée is a winning one.
All of them have combined to make a much more substantial film than may have been expected which explores part of Victoria’s reign not really seen on screen before, namely the problems of her accession to the throne and her early relationship with Albert.
Extras include:
Deleted Scenes
Making of The Young Victoria
The Coronation & The Wedding: Behind the scenes look at the production
Lavish History: Look at the costumes and locations
There are also supporting performances from Paul Bettany (as Prime Minister Lord Melbourne) and Miranda Richardson as Victoria’s mother, the Duchess of Kent.
Bronson is a British film about the life of notorious prisoner Charles Bronson (Tom Hardy).
Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn it is a striking look at how a man from a respectable family became one of the most notorious prisoners in Britain, persistently causing havoc in the system by staging riots, protests and taking hostages.
Born Michael Peterson and later re-named by his fight promoter in the 1970s – he has spent 34 years of his life in prison, and 28 of those in solitary confinement.
Although on the surface it might seem like another British gangster film, it is actually a very interesting and often darkly funny look at an extraordinary character.
Much of the strength of the film comes from the fact that it eschews the usual biopic route by having Bronson as narrator.
Can we trust him? Probably not, but that is what makes the film interesting as he refuses to blame his background and admits to being a strange kind of fame seeking performer.
Tom Hardy (who actually met with the real life Bronson in prison) gives a remarkable performance in the title role and Refn directs proceedings with considerable style and pace.
A strong supporting cast includes Amy Adams and Viola Davis and although at times it is a little too stagey, the strength of the original play shines through and gives the impressive cast a chance to flex their considerable acting muscles. Although some audiences will be left frustrated by the climax, it is worth remembering that it contains the very crux of the play and is also what gives it a rich and lasting power.
The extras on the DVD and Blu-ray are as follows:
From Stage to Screen: A discussion with John Patrick Shanley about the history of Doubt, including his inspirations for the story, the acclaim the play’s Broadway run received, the Pulitzer Prize and the process of adapting it for the screen. Joining the conversation are Meryl Streep and Sister Margaret McEntee (a consultant on the film and Shanley’s former teacher).
Scoring Doubt: Renowned composer Howard Shore discusses his inspiration for the music in the film and his collaboration with both John Patrick Shanley and producer Scott Rudin.
The Sisters of Charity: Meryl Streep and John Patrick Shanley discuss the interviews that Shanley did before shooting with real nuns to discuss their lives and make sure they would be accurately portrayed in the film.
Feature Commentary with John Patrick Shanley
The Cast of Doubt: A conversation with actors Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams and Viola Davis.
The Red Shoes (ITV DVD): Moira Shearer stars as talented young dancer Victoria Page who finds herself torn between Julian Craster (Marius Goring) and Boris Lermontov (Anton Walbrook).
Directed by Powell and Pressburger, featuring cinematography by the late Jack Cardiff, this is the new digital film restoration that was premiered at this year’s Cannes Classics Film Festival.
It was restored in partnership with UCLA Film & Television Archive in association with The BFI, The Film Foundation, Janus Films and ITV Global Entertainment Ltd. Restoration funding was provided by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, The Film Foundation, and the Louis B. Mayer Foundation.
Features on both editions include:
Re-mastered film feature
A Profile of The Red Shoes
The Ballet of The Red Shoes
Cannes 09: Martin Scorsese introduction
Cannes 09: Thelma Schoonmaker
Behind the scenes gallery
Theatrical Trailer
Biographies and photo gallery of cast and crew
Three Monkeys (New Wave Films): Directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan (who made Uzak (Distant) in 2002 and Climates in 2006) this dark family drama is about a politician (Ercan Kesal) who accidentally kills someone whilst out driving and manages to convince his lowly driver (Yavuz Bingol) to take the wrap.
The plot then thickens whilst the driver is in jail, with his wife (Hatice Aslan) and son (Ahmet Rifat Sungar) getting drawn into the web of deceit.
It screened in competition at Cannes in 2008 to considerable acclaim and Ceylan won Best Director although the limited run at UK cinemas meant DVD will be the place discerning filmgoers will catch it.
Extras include the trailer and an interview with Nuri Bilge Ceylan.
We have 3 DVD copies of Flame and Citron to give away courtesy of Metrodome.
Set in Copenhagen 1944 as World War II approaches its dying days, it is the story of two hit men for the Danish freedom fighters codenamed ‘Flame’ (Thure Lindhardt) and ‘Citron’ (Mads Mikkelsen) secretly put their lives on the line to fight the Nazis.
The fearless and uncompromising Flame is a confirmed anti-fascist and dreams of the day when the group will assemble and openly launch an armed counterattack at the occupying power.
The more sensitive family man, Citron, used to work primarily as a driver for Flame, but now finds himself becoming more deeply involved in the group’s work.
It is based on actual events and eyewitness accounts from some of the people who experienced Bent Faurschou-Hviid (‘Flame’) and Jørgen Haagen Schmith (‘Citron’) at very close range.
Extras include:
Al Jazeera ‘That Fabulous Picture Show’ Q&A with Mads Mikkelsen
Filmed interviews with director Ole Christian Madsen and actor Thure Lindhardt
Theatrical trailer
To stand a chance of winning a copy just answer this question:
Which Bond film did Mads Mikklesen play the villain?
Some were put off by the four hour running time and the whole question of whether or not it was actually two films. It would probably be most accurate to describe it as two films merged together as one: The Argentine deals with the Cuban revolution in 1959 whilst Guerrilla explores his final years in Bolivia.
In the UK it got released as Che: Part One and Che: Part Two, with some special double-bill screenings at certain cinemas. Now with the DVD release, it is worth saying again what an audacious and thrilling piece of cinema this project turned out to be.
In the first part we see the Cuban Revolution inter-cut with Guevara’s 1964 trip to the United Nation and refreshingly Soderbergh eschews the narrative cliches of many historical biopics. Instead of ponderous meditations on his motives or background we are plunged into the raw action of the revolutionary’s life.
Some viewers may find this off putting but as the film progresses the production design, costume, acting and cinematography get ever more hypnotic, drawing us into this world.
Soderbergh has always been a gifted technical filmmaker interested in pushing the boundaries of mainstream cinema and here he crafted one of his most interesting and accomplished films with the help of a revolutionary digital camera (appropriately called the RED One) that allowed him to make an epic using guerrilla film-making techniques.
The spiritual core of the film is an outstanding performance from Benicio del Toro, who captures the physical and vocal mannerisms of Che so well that he manages to make you forget about the face that spawned so many t-shirts and posters.
Che will be available on DVD and Blu-ray in two parts or as a box-set.
The extras for Che Part One are:
Behind the Scenes Featurette
Exclusive Interview with Steven Soderbergh
Theatrical teaser trailer
The extras for Che Part Two are:
Exclusive interview with Benicio Del Toro
Interview with Alberto Iglesias (composer)
Interview with Jon Lee Anderson (Author of Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life)
Theatrical trailer
On DVD the films are presented in anamorphic widescreen with Spanish DD2.0 Stereo, Spanish DD5.1 Surround audio and English subtitles.
On Blu-ray (Region B) the films are presented in 1080P Widescreen with Spanish 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and English subtitles.
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Gran Torino (Warner Bros): Just after directing Changeling, Clint Eastwood returned with another film, which he directs and stars in (reportedly his acting swan song). He plays a disgruntled Korean War vet who sets out to reform his neighbour, a young Hmong teenager (Bee Vang), who tried to steal his vintage 1972 Gran Torino car.
Although this project came together quickly, it is a lean and satisfying tale told with Eastwood’s customary efficiency and class. It would be safe to categorise it as a drama, but there are some very funny sequences, mostly involving the culture clash between Eastwood’s gruff character and his immigrant neighbours.
There are times when the film skates on thin ice when dealing with the issue of race, but Eastwood and screenwriter Nick Schenk deserve credit for venturing in territory that most Hollywood execs wouldn’t touch with a bargepole.
A pleasingly old fashioned drama of simple pleasures and a fitting swansong for the iconic tough guy persona Eastwood has owned for a generation.
Extras on the regular DVD include:
Manning the Wheel as Reflected in American Car Culture
Gran Torino: More than a Car. Visit Detroit and the Woodland Dream Cruise, an Annual vintage car event where buffs describe the unique bond between man and vehicles
The Eastwood Way: Exploring the Actor/Director’s filmmaking process up close (Blu-ray exclusive)
The following extras will be made available over BD-Live (Blu-ray only):
Jamie Cullum’s music video performance of the original theme song from the motion picture Gran Torino.
Gran Torino: Next Door is a 15 minute Hmong documentary. For Hmong Americans, Gran Torino marks a cinematic debut – the first time they have participated as characters, cast and crew in a major motion picture. The documentary takes a very personal look at the Hmong experience and their stories, both on and off the set.
The story involves two American women, Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) who spend a summer in Barcelona, where they meet an artist (Javier Bardem) who is attracted to both of them while still enamored of his ex-wife (Penelope Cruz).
Although Hall and Johansson are fine in the two lead roles, it is Bardem and Cruz who give the film an extra flavour with both showing a wonderful light touch for comedy.
Cruz deservedly scooped an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress earlier this year and the film got some of the best reviews Allen has had in some time. The extras are a little thin on the ground (the trailer) but the film is a breezy delight.
Look out for a cameo by the Spanish actor Joan Pera, who often voices Allen in Spanish dubs of his movies.
Hardware (Optimum): This 1990 cult sci-fi has often been hard to track down on DVD due to various rights problems and now Optimum have finally re-issued a special edition on DVD and Blu-ray.
Directed by Richard Stanley, the story involves the head of a killing cyborg found in the desert, which ends up repairing itself and wreaking havoc in the apartment of a sculptress.
It stars Dylan McDermott, Stacey Travis, John Lynch and William Hootkins.
The extras include:
Audio commentary with Richard Stanley & Paul Trijbits
Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist (Sony): A charming romantic-comedy, minus the usual cliches of the genre, with Michael Cera and Kat Dennings two teenagers who fall in love during one sleepless night in New York while searching for their favourite band’s unannounced show.
Hardware is a 1990 sci-fi film set in a post-apocalyptic future.
The story involves the head of a killing cyborg found in the desert, which ends up repairing itself and wreaking havoc in the apartment of a sculptress.
Written and directed by Richard Stanley, it stars Dylan McDermott, Stacey Travis, John Lynch and William Hootkins.
A cult sci-fi horror, it hasn’t ever had a proper DVD release due to various rights difficulties until now.
I spoke with Richard Stanley in London recentlyand we discussed various aspects of the film including: where it was shot, how it got funded, the various influences and the long delay in securing a proper DVD release.
The Class (Artificial Eye): The surprise winner of this year’s Palme
d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival was this deceptively simple tale of a French teacher (François Bégaudeau) at a state school in Paris. The actual French title is ‘Entre Les Murs’ – which translates as ‘Between the walls’ – which is apt as the film never (apart from one shot at the beginning) strays outside the confines of the school.
Adapted from the 2006 novel of the same name by Bégaudeau, which in turn was based on his own real life experiences teaching in a Paris school, it is a rich and deeply satisfying film. Not only did it scrupulously avoid the cliches that can plaue films set inside schools, but also managed to offer a plausible snapshot of modern French society by focusing tightly on a class of pupils and their teachers.
Although it is shot in the widescreen aspect ratio of 2:35, the camera hangs tight on each character and never really gives us a look at the French city landscape. This might sound claustrophobic, but makes the lessons and world inside of the school (the staff room, the corridors, the playground) all come alive in an unexpectedly thrilling way.
Performances – especially from Bégaudeau and a very special cast of non-professional teenagers – were outstanding but the film also had a tremendous sense of humanity to it without ever slipping into cheap sentiment. An example of a rare film that touches the heart whilst engaging the brain, The Class is a gem that I would urge you to see.
Extras on the 2 disc DVD include:
Anamorphic Widescreen
DD5.1 Surround
Interview with Director Laurent Cantet
Extra Scenes with Commentary by Laurent Cantet and François Bégaudeau
Rehearsals with the Students
Student Self Portraits
Making of Documentary
Theatrical Trailer
Bolt (Disney): The first film from the rejuvenated Walt Disney Animation Studios headed by Pixar supremo John Lasseter tells the story of a dog named Bolt (voiced by John Travolta) who doesn’t realise that the TV show he stars in isn’t actually real. Also featuring the voices of Miley Cyrus, Malcolm McDowell, Susie Essman and Mark Walton, it was directed by Chris Williams and Byron Howard. The effect of Lasseter overseeing this film has had a marked on effect on the animation and writing, which contains similar levels of wit and emotion apparent in the best Pixar movies.
On the single disc DVD the extras include:
Bonus Short: Super Rhino – Rhino, the hyperactive hamster, gets a chance to headline his very own adventure
The 2-Disc DVD is as above, plus the following additional extras:
“I Thought I Lost You” Music Video featuring the movie’s stars, Miley Cyrus and John Travolta.
In Session with John Travolta and Miley Cyrus – A behind-the-scenes look at recording Bolt’s signature song “I Thought I Lost You.”
A New Breed of Directors: A Filmmakers’ Journey – First-time directors Chris Williams and Byron Howard take fans along as they traverse the road from concept to completion.
Act, Speak! The Voices of Bolt – Viewers join the voice cast in session: John Travolta (Bolt), Miley Cyrus (Penny), Susie
Essman (Mittens), James Lipton (Director) and Mark Walton (Rhino).
Creating The World of Bolt – Bolt’s painterly backgrounds have wowed audiences across the globe. The filmmakers explain how they fashioned the unique look of this CG movie.
Deleted Scenes with optional introductions by directors Chris Williams and Byron Howard.
The Blu-ray Disc includes all of the extras found on the DVD editions plus the following exclusives:
Bolt’s Be-Awesome Mission – In order to defeat the Green-Eyed Man, Bolt has to find his way through three challenging levels in an exciting interactive game. Viewers can join in collecting clues, conquering ninjas and unleashing the power of the Super Bark!
Bolt Art Gallery – Animation enthusiasts can check out the film’s early creative concepts in the Bolt Art Gallery, which contains the building blocks of a big screen blockbuster, from storyboards to character mock-ups. Gallery sections include Visual Development, Character Development, Storyboard Art and Color Script Images.
Anvil! The Story of Anvil (Universal): A documentary about little-known Canadian metal band Anvil, whose 1982 album ‘Metal on Metal’ influenced a generation of heavy metal bands including Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax, all of whom went on to sell millions of records. But Anvil’s career took a different path: straight to obscurity. The film tracks the band as they take an ill-advised European tour and release their 13th album in a last ditch attempt to hit the big time.
Extras include:
Audio Commentary with Sacha Gervasi, Rebecca Yeldham and Andrew Dickler
Audio Commentary with Sacha Gervasi, Robb Reiner and Steve ‘Lips’ Kudlow
Deleted Scenes (x5) (17mins)
This Feels Good (interview with band) (13mins 37secs)
Where are they now? (interview with the original band members) (3mins 9secs)
Interview with Lars Ulrich (30mins 3secs)
Sacha Gervasi Rocks with Anvil (4mins 15secs)
There is also a Limited Edition On Tour CD+DVD Edition (£24.99 RRP) that packages together the DVD with the “This Is Thirteen” CD. The track list for the CD follows:
On first viewing I admired it more as a technical exercise and was puzzled as to why a director like Fincher was attracted to this material. Why did they alter the original story so much? What were the contemporary references all about? And wasn’t it a bit too similar to Forrest Gump? (also scripted by Roth). However, on second viewing I found it to be a much richer experience – it is essentially a fable about love and loss and gains its power from the central concept of living life in reverse.
Far from being a gimmick, it actually becomes a profound way of dramatising the ageing process. Forget the Oscar fuelled hype and snarkycritical hate surrounding this film and approach it with an open mind. The makeup, visual effects, cinematography, score and performances make it an unusual and affecting big budget rarity.
Disappointingly Warner Bros (the UK distributor) have put all the extras on the Blu-ray version and the regular DVD is a barebones single disc with only audio commentaries.
If you have a multi-region player I would strongly recommend getting the US Criterion edition on import, although I imagine there will be a 2 disc DVD at some point in the future.
The extras on the DVD and Blu-ray versions break down like this.
Single-Disc DVD – Includes the film presented in 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen with English and Italian DD5.1 Surround and English Audio Description; The only extra is commentary by director David Fincher.
2-Disc Blu-ray – Extras include:
Commentary by director David Fincher
The Curious Birth of Benjamin Button
Pre-Production (RT 32:20; New Featurette)
Production Part I (RT 24:14; New Featurette)
Production Part II (RT 31:36; New Featurette)
VFX- Benjamin (RT 16:52; New Featurette)
VFX- The Chelsea (RT 8:50; New Featurette)
VFX- Youthenizationo (RT 6:21; New Featurette)
VFX- Performance Capture (RT 7:57; New Featurette)
VFX- The Simulated World (RT 12:50; New Featurette)
Sound Design (RT 16:29; New Featurette)
Desplats Interumentarium (RT 14:52; New Featurette; Interviews by Alexandre Desplat and the scoring of Benjamin Button)
Costume Design (RT 7:33; New Featurette)
Tech Scouts (RT 12:53; New Featurette)
Birth (RT 4:00; New Featurette)
Easter Egg (RT 2:00)
Digital Copy
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Milk (Momentum): Sean Penn is often regarded as one of the finest actors of his generation and his portrayal of Harvey Milk in this biopic was one of his very best. Milk was a gay rights activist who in the 1970s became the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
The film opens with opens with archive footage of police raiding gay bars during the 1950s and 1960s, followed by the announcement in November, 1978 that Milk and Mayor George Moscone have been assassinated.
What follows is an inspiring and moving tale of political courage and hope with many fine performances across the board from Emile Hirsch, James Franco and Josh Brolin.
Directed by Gus Van Sant from a script by Dustin Lance Black, it skilfully juxtaposed the drama of Milk’s political battles against the inner conflicts of his private life. It was also a nice change to see Penn play a warm and inspirational protagonist, a dimension to the film which gave it an extra lift.
Watching the film unfold just a couple of weeks after the election of Barack Obama it was hard not to see the parallels: both were political outsiders who thrived on changing the status quo through a combination of hope and grass roots activism.
Sadly, Milk’s legacy was not enough to prevent the passing of Prop 8 – a California ballot proposition that changed the laws of the state to ban same sex marriage. But this film will almost certainly become a lasting testament to his political and moral courage.
The extras on the DVD and Blu-ray include:
Deleted Scenes (3m 44s)
Remembering Harvey (13m 21s)
Hollywood Comes to San Francisco (14m 32s)
Marching for Equality (7m 58s)
UK & International Trailers
On DVD the film is presented in anamorphic widescreen with English DD5.1 Surround audio and optional English subtitles.
It is a testament to the final film that Slumdog Millionaire is so many different things – a vibrant and rich journey through modern India through the lens of a Dickensian tale of love and redemption. Adapted by Simon Beaufoy from the novel Q and A by Vikas Swarup, it deservedly received a lot of buzz and acclaim at the Telluride and Toronto film festivals.
What’s interesting is that the narrative plays a little like The Usual Suspects, as we learn how the central character Jamal (Dev Patel) came to be on the game show. It then flashes back to periods of his life growing up as a kid from the slums (or ’slumdog’ as some less than charitable characters in the film put it) and his desire to find the true love of his life (Frieda Pinto).
Boyle and his cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle don’t shy away from the poverty of the slums in the film but also capture the live wire energy of Mumbai with some inventive use of digital cameras and a cracking soundtrack. Whilst some audiences might be a bit taken aback by some of the darker sequences, they are necessary counterweights for others aspects of the story to really work.
A huge amount of credit must go to Beaufoy who has constructed a jigsaw puzzle narrative that somehow manages to hold everything together in a way that is exciting, clever and moving. Another clever touch is the realistic portrayal of the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire show, complete with the right music and graphics which are expertly woven into the film and play a key part in how the story unfolds.
The cheesy tension of the TV show somehow has a new life here, with added meaning on the tense pauses and multiple choice questions. The film deservedly cleaned up at this year’s Oscars taking home 8 awards including Best Picture and Best Director.
Both the DVD and Blu-ray version offer more than three hours of special features, including commentaries, featurettes and deleted scenes.
DVD and Blu-ray Extras:
Commentary from director Danny Boyle and Dev Patel
Commentary from producer Christian Colson and writer Simon Beaufoy
Deleted Scenes
Slumdog Dreams: Danny Boyle and the making of Slumdog Millionaire
Jai Ho Remix – Slumdog Cutdown
UK Theatrical Trailer
Additional Blu-ray only special features:
Slumdog Guru – an interactive option of watching the film that gives the viewer access to special features directly from the film. Contains exclusive picture in picture interviews.
The Wrestler (Optimum): On first hearing about a film where Mickey Rourke plays a has-been, directed by Darren Aronofsky, I was intrigued. Would it be similar to the director’s previous films like π andRequiem for a Dream? And what would Mickey Rourke be like in his first proper leading role for many years?
For Aronofksy it is a major – but welcome – departure in that it eschews many of the stylistic devices of his earlier work in favour of a raw, stripped down approach. For Rourke it is nothing less than a triumphant comeback: a dream role that proves not only what a fine screen actor he can be, but also atones for the chaos of his professional career over the last 20 years.
The film itself is the story of a big time wrestler from the 1980s called Randy ‘The Ram’ Robinson, who has fallen on hard times and wrestles on the weekends in independent and semi-pro matches for extra money. Health problems force him to re-evaluate his life which includes working in a deli, a possible relationship with a stripper (Marisa Tomei) and an attempted reconciliation with his estranged daughter (Evan Rachel Wood).
The parallels between Rourke’s own career and that of his character are there for anyone to see but there is more to the film than just brave casting: it paints a moving yet unsentimental view of outsiders struggling to make it in modern America. The world of semi-pro wrestling is also brought to life with remarkable authenticity. Although the theatricality and hype of the WWF dominates the public perception of wrestlers, the realism on display in this story creates a much more authentic and poignant world.
A lot of the film’s charm rests on Rourke and Tomei, who play two contrasting characters who actually have much in common: both are performers who use their bodies and have problems reconciling their double lives. Rourke scooped Best Actor at the BAFTAs and Indie Spirit Awards, where he delivered hilarious acceptance speeches, but lost out on the Oscar to his old buddy Sean Penn.
Extras include:
A making of documentary (Within The Ring, 42mins)
Interview with Mickey Rourke (16mins)
Theatrical trailer.
The DVD will be presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen with English DD5.1 Surround, English DD2.0 Stereo and English subtitles.
Battlestar Galactica: The Final Season (Universal Playback): The final stretch of this modern sci-fi series comes to DVD in the UK with the second half of Season 4 branded ‘The Final Season’. A four-disc set, episodes are spread across the first three presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen with English DD5.1 Surround audio, English DD2.0 Stereo audio and English SDH subtitles.
The 11 episodes on four discs are:
Disc One
Sometimes A Great Notion
A Disquiet Follows My Soul
The Oath Blood On The Scales
Disc Two
No Exit
Deadlock
Someone To Watch Over Me
Islanded in a Stream of Stars
Disc Three
Daybreak Part 1
Daybreak Part 2
Daybreak Part 3
These discs also have podcast commentaries and deleted scenes on select episodes. The fourth disc contains featurettes and the unrated version of A Disquiet Follows My Soul.
All extras (except for the commentaries) are subtitled in English SDH.
Extras include:
Deleted Scenes: Sometimes A Great Notion, The Oath, Blood on the Scales, No Exit, Deadlock, Someone to Watch Over Me, Daybreak
Podcast Commentary: Sometimes A Great Notion, A Disquiet Follows My Soul, The Oath, Blood On The Scales, No Exit
A Sneak Peek at Caprica (1:32)
David Eick’s Video Blogs (x11)
What the Frak is Going on with Battlestar Galactica? – A recap of Battlestar Galactica’s first three seasons (8:17)
Evolution of a Cue: Composer, Bear McCreary takes us step by step through his process of creating the music of Battlestar Galactica (22:13)
Unrated/Extended Episode: A Disquiet Follows My Soul (50:54)
The Reader (EIV): This adaptation of the 1995 German novel by Bernhard Schlink follows a complicated love affair in the 1950s between a German teenager named Michael Berg (David Kross) and a woman twice his age called Hannah Schmitz (Kate Winslet). Years later as a law student he discovers a terrible secret about his former lover and struggles to deal with the repercussions of her actions in World War II.
It is directed by Stephen Daldry and Ralph Fiennes plays Berg as an older man struggling to deal with his past. With a script by David Hare (who worked with Daldry on The Hours) this was always going to be an awards season contender, although some mixed reviews in the US and the UK might harm its word of mouth.
It is a well crafted and involving tale with three very solid performances from Winslet, Fiennes and Kross. Daldry and Hare have managed to preserve the knotty moral questions of the book – something which appears to have really riled critics of the film – and the cinematography from Roger Deakins and Chris Menges is first rate.
The extras include:
The Reader : Music
The Reader : Makeup
Theatrical Trailer
Production Design
Making the Reader : Adapting a timeless masterpiece
A conversation with David Kross and Stephen Daltry
30 Rock – Season 2 (Universal Playback): The second season of the award-winning sitcom created by (and starring) Tina Fey takes place behind the scenes of a fictional livesketch comedy series depicted as airing on NBC; the name “30 Rock” refers to the address of the GE Building where NBC Studios is located, 30 Rockefeller Plaza.
Audio Commentaries by Tina Fey, Jack McBrayer, Jane Krakowski, Scott Adsit, Judah Friedlander, Producers John Riggi and Robert Carlock, Producer/Composer Jeff Richmond and Guest Stars Tim Conway, Will Arnett and Fred Armisen
Deleted Scenes
“Cooter” Table Read
30 Rock Live at the UCB Theatre
Tina Hosts SNL
The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Presents: An Evening with 30 Rock
We have 3 copies of Love The Beast to give away on DVD courtesy of Metrodome.
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