Home Movies: The Big Chill (1983) and the Grace Kelly Collection

by Tony Dayoub

Since I spent recent months covering it on another site, I'm going to forgo reviewing (at least until I'm up for another binge watch) what looks like a glorious box set of Twin Peaks that includes both the classic series and its unfairly maligned cinematic prequel. Instead, let's look at a couple of this week's other worthy home releases.

Quadrophenia (1979), Margaret (2011) and more

by Tony Dayoub

Sometimes, when things seem bleakest, you discover a reason to keep watching movies. 2012 hasn't been a bad movie year. But perhaps being mired in the ins and outs of my wife's new business has distracted me from seeing some of the very best it has to offer. It has certainly been harder to get out to the theater. And at home, I find myself gravitating to old TV series I'm fond of, a televisual comfort food of sorts, rather than catching up with some of the better reviewed 2012 offerings I've missed. Here are four recent offerings on DVD and Blu-ray which I mostly liked.

Brave and the Rest of 2012's Kid Flicks

by Tony Dayoub

This past weekend's release of Brave is occasion enough for a recap of the year's kid-oriented movies—some fairly good, some bad. More on Brave and the rest, after the jump.

DVD Review: The Kreutzer Sonata (2008)

by Tony Dayoub

I must confess that I'm not well versed in the work of Leo Tolstoy. But in reading up on some background for this review, I was surprised to discover that the eponymous novella on which The Kreutzer Sonata is based has been filmed almost half as many times as there have been 007 movies. The tale centers on the mounting jealousy of a husband who suspects his pianist wife may be cheating on him with a violinist she's gotten to know as the two rehearse Beethoven's Sonata No. 9. This go-round, the modernized adaptation is helmed by a director I've always had a sneaking admiration for, Bernard Rose (Immortal Beloved).

By the Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth!

A shortlist of the best Marvel films on DVD and Blu-ray

by Tony Dayoub

Once unable to get many of its most iconic characters on the big screen, its superheroes tied up in litigation due to some bad business decisions, Marvel Entertainment now thrives thanks to much of the education it reluctantly received in courtrooms. Its rival, DC Comics (publishing home of Superman and Batman), is stuck in a sort of stasis, unable to capitalize on a stable of comic book characters that are arguably better known than Marvel's. (Remember the Super Friends, aka the Justice League?) Perhaps DC is a victim of "synergy" with parent company Warner Brothers. The conglomerate's natural tendency to play it safe resulted in this summer's Green Lantern, a homogenous piece of hokum that stunk of test-marketing. Just this past summer, as the annual geek convention known as the San Diego Comic-Con was raging, Warner announced that the release of Zack Snyder's all-star Superman feature, The Man of Steel, would be delayed until 2013. Meanwhile, the canny Marvel Studios keeps drawing its licensed characters closer under the roof of its new parent company, the Walt Disney Company. Disney purchased the distribution rights for the remaining features in the Iron Man and Captain America franchises, as well as this week's Avengers film, an experiment in which multiple franchise stars like Thor and the Hulk will unite with the aforementioned heroes to form a powerful mega-team.

Something Like the Truth

Six underrated films by master director Sidney Lumet

by Tony Dayoub

One [year] ago, cinema lost director Sidney Lumet, "a leading American realist," according to David Thomson in his essay, "The Fugitive Kind: When Sidney Went to Tennessee." Thomson describes Lumet as "a master of complex working situations, of limited time and space, of plot intrigue, of real-life settings and natural drama." I'd add that Lumet was fascinated by iconoclasts and how they confronted injustice. In movie after movie, his heroes often found themselves at odds with societal norms despite the fact that they tended to stick to a moral code that society had itself established. Whether it was Juror Number 8 (Henry Fonda) in 12 Angry Men, the eponymous cop (Al Pacino) of Serpico, or producer Max Schumacher (William Holden) in Network, the protagonist demanded fairness while ensconced in a corrupted system that had long ago abandoned the notion. One finds this recurring theme in some form or another in all of Lumet's films.

The Taylor Library

The best of Elizabeth on DVD

by Tony Dayoub

By now, many have eulogized the legendary Liz Taylor. So I'll instead celebrate the most notable of what's available on DVD. More than a simple "best of," I really hope to showcase her most significant performances, with an eye toward the quality of their video presentation as well.

Gothic Nightmares

A survey of British horror films on DVD and Blu-ray

By Tony Dayoub

Serena in Hammer's Vampire Circus

As the climate turns chilly, leaves fall away from skeletal trees and nighttime lasts just a bit longer, I’m always tempted to enjoy the run up to Halloween by binging on spooky films. In selecting a sampling of some of those horror films to share with all of you, I decided to focus on a cross-section of British horror films. Though this sample leans toward the more esoteric in theme, many of them feature very familiar monsters and are representative of the eroticism, gothic panache and propensity for colorful gore that characterizes screamers made in the UK...

CONTINUE READING AT NOMAD EDITIONS: WIDE SCREEN

All’s Welles That Ends Welles

Citizen Kane finally arrives on Blu-ray, and a second Welles classic tags along

by Tony Dayoub

Orson Welles’ roman à clef, Citizen Kane, was once derided by defenders of its alleged subject, publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst. Largely because of their efforts to prevent its release, Kane failed to gain any box-office traction when it first premiered. But over the years, as any film school student can tell you, it only grows more and more important in the cinematic lexicon. Maybe it is because it was Welles’ first film, yet it demonstrates an astonishing grasp of film technique, melding some of Welles’ stage skills with Gregg Toland’s cinematography to shape an epic story on a relatively meager budget. Perhaps it is because it was cast with the same Mercury Theatre company he had used in radio productions, actors like Joseph Cotten, Agnes Moorehead, and Everett Sloane, all of whom had never acted onscreen before. Or it could be that the film tells the quintessential American story about the rise and fall of a maverick entrepreneur whose success and failure is tied to his ability (or lack thereof) to connect with his friends and family on a human level, a popular archetypal saga told time and again in films like All the King’s Men or The Godfather movies...

CONTINUE READING AT NOMAD EDITIONS: WIDE SCREEN

Newest Wave of MGM Limited Edition MODs Show Big Improvement

by Tony Dayoub

The initial run of MGM Limited Edition's manufactured-on-demand (MOD) DVDs (which I reviewed for Wide Screen a few months ago)—a shoddy product made by Amazon.com subsidiary CreateSpace—made a lot of customers unhappy. In my earlier review I said the "line feels like the chintziest of all of the MOD collections, which is a shame considering it carries some of the most interesting titles..." Since then, MGM has switched to Allied Vaughn (which also manufactures Warner Archive's MODs) in order to fulfill their orders. Though problems reportedly continue here and there (you can read the ins and outs of this transition at DVD Talk), I am much happier with the resulting product, which now includes a rudimentary menu, and the occasional special feature. After the jump I review a small sample from this latest batch.

Transfiguration

Whistleblower films on DVD and Blu-ray

by Tony Dayoub

What is our attraction to movies about whistleblowers? Is it our admiration of one loner speaking truth to power when confronted with an injustice that person may have been a party to? Or is it our own distrust of the establishment, an inborn characteristic in the more rebellious of us, conscious of the way our own place in the world came to be when our forefathers overthrew the armed forces of their mother country? It’s arguable whether the humdrum phone hacking scandal — which started with the News of the World and has embroiled everyone from its parent company’s CEO, Rupert Murdoch, to talk show host Piers Morgan — registered much with the average American until the mysterious death of 47-year-old Sean Hoare. A former reporter for the British tabloid, Hoare was one of the first to expose the newspaper’s questionable methods of acquiring information. Speculation immediately drifted towards some conspiracy angle despite Hoare’s notorious abuse of drugs and alcohol.

By the Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth!

A shortlist of the best Marvel films on DVD and Blu-ray

by Tony Dayoub

Once unable to get many of its most iconic characters on the big screen, its superheroes tied up in litigation due to some bad business decisions, Marvel Entertainment now thrives thanks to much of the education it reluctantly received in courtrooms. Its rival, DC Comics (publishing home of Superman and Batman), is stuck in a sort of stasis, unable to capitalize on a stable of comic book characters that are arguably better known than Marvel’s. (Remember the Super Friends, aka the Justice League?) Perhaps DC is a victim of “synergy” with parent company Warner Brothers. The conglomerate’s natural tendency to play it safe resulted in this summer’s Green Lantern, a homogenous piece of hokum that stunk of test-marketing. Just this past weekend, as the annual geek convention known as the San Diego Comic-Con was raging, Warner announced that the release of Zack Snyder’s all-star Superman feature, The Man of Steel, would be delayed until 2013. Meanwhile, the canny Marvel Studios keeps drawing its licensed characters closer under the roof of its new parent company, the Walt Disney Company. Disney purchased the distribution rights for the remaining features in the Iron Man and Captain America franchises, as well as the upcoming Avengers film, an experiment in which multiple franchise stars like Thor and the Hulk will unite with the aforementioned heroes to form a powerful mega-team.

Catching up on DVD and Blu-ray

by Tony Dayoub

After the jump, read my quick takes on three wildly different, new home releases.

Now on DVD and Blu-ray in April/May

by Tony Dayoub

I apologize for the long dry spell at this site, but I needed to recharge.
You should see things pick up a tad here over the next few weeks. Let me catch you up on some home releases I've been watching...

Guess Why Young Lucille Bluth Is So Happy?

by Tony Dayoub


Jessica Walter in The Group (1966)

No, it's not because there is definitive word of an Arrested Development theatrical release.  And that isn't really Lucille, just the fetching young Jessica Walter, at the start of her career, playing the catty Libby in Sidney Lumet's The Group. It is one of nine discs I look at this week at Wide Screen in a brief consumer guide on all of the made-on-demand (MOD) collections sprouting up everywhere. I've been frustrated at the lack of information available comparing the quality of the various MOD lines (outside of the widely promoted Warner Archive). So I took it upon myself to create a central repository in which to discuss which collections give you the most bang for your buck, have the most interesting selections, and look and sound the best. I even throw links to sites where you can purchase discs from each of the lines (you can find those at the back of the issue). Now, you have a practical reason to start your free trial subscription.

Comment here on what you liked, anything I missed, or what I could have done better.

CONTINUE READING AT NOMAD EDITIONS: WIDE SCREEN

DVD Review: Three Recent Releases from the Warner Archive Collection

by Tony Dayoub

As I catch up on some of the past weeks' recent releases, here are three from the Warner Archive Collection that are worth a look. Given additional consideration, one may eventually turn out to be an unsung classic.

DVD Review: Warner Archive is Too Big to Contain Here

by Tony Dayoub

The Warner Archive Collection continues to impress with the breadth and depth of movies they release using their made-to-order (MOD) model. It's also fascinating the way they market these DVDs—tying them to holidays, anniversaries, and the like—with relative ease because of their decision to keep increasing their library (as of this writing, 818 titles and counting) at the rapid rate of 5 - 10 releases A WEEK.

Underrated: Constance Towers

by Tony Dayoub

A stunning blond prostitute is engaged in a fight with her procurer, what we'd call a pimp nowadays. She slaps him about with her handbag, as he, half-drunk, staggers backwards with each blow to his face. The scene unfolds in a series of alternating point-of-view shots, the camera (and by extension, the viewer) by turns leering at the scumbag and knocked around by the hooker's purse. Then, something shocking occurs. In all the commotion, this woman flips her wig... literally. Her hair falls to the ground leaving a bald snarling Fury in the woman's place, any measure of civility that may have existed quickly vanishing from her as she finally brings the pimp down to the floor. Straddling him, she takes money owed to her—and no more—from the groaning worm. She stands, looks straight into the camera as she dons her wig again, and straightens it forcefully as the film's title card flashes onscreen: The Naked Kiss (1964).

And Two Weeks in Another Town begat...

by Tony Dayoub

Just finished watching Warner Archive's remastered edition of Vincente Minelli's Two Weeks in Another Town (1962), a fine film based on a bestseller by Irwin Shaw. The melodrama is frank in its look behind the scenes of a troubled Hollywood production being shot in Rome. Kirk Douglas plays washed up actor Jack Andrus, lured out of an extended "drying out," at what used to be called a sanitarium, by director Maurice Kruger (Edward G. Robinson), who himself has seen better days. Kruger is shooting a film at Cinecittà starring young Davie Drew (George Hamilton), a volatile actor not unlike Andrus during his tumultuous youth. One thing leads to another, and Andrus must take over for an ailing Kruger, manage his mercurial star, and contend with a manipulative ex-lover (Cyd Charrise), all while gripping tenuously to his eroding sanity. The passion of Minelli's drama, its abrupt tonal shifts from comedy to drama, from romance to disillusionment, and its deep cynicism, all reflected in the director's knack for expressionistic use of color, stands in stark contrast to Sofia Coppola's recent Somewhere (2010).

Best of 2010: The Best DVDs of 2010

by Tony Dayoub

Like the song says, “Everything old is new again.” 2010 saw the studios doubling down on Blu-ray as the economy began to improve. With that decision, DVD collectors were faced with deciding whether films they already owned were worth the upgrade when released on Blu-ray. In many cases, a good DVD of a relatively recent movie will approximate the same quality as the newer discs because of a Blu-ray player’s “upconvert” feature. It’s often in the classic film arena, or what are referred to as catalog releases, where one sees the biggest difference. That is why many home theater aficionados gravitate to these discs.

It is also why the majority of the films on my list are pre-1980 and on Blu-ray (those on Blu-ray are available on DVD as well).* Watching these on Blu-ray can often be revelatory, as I’ll point out in individual entries. But don’t worry. I also highlight a few new films from the last year. Also, all of the entries are readily available in the US. In some rare cases where films are only available on DVD, I will point that out as well.

*One disclaimer: There are a multitude of DVDs and Blu-rays released every year, making it incredibly difficult to catch up with them all. This list simply reflects the best of what I caught this year (with obvious personal prejudices skewing the list even further). So if you disagree, or feel something was unjustly left out, feel free to send in some suggestions. I might want to check them out.

CONTINUE READING AT NOMAD EDITIONS: WIDE SCREEN