DVD Playhouse—February 2012
By Allen Gardner
To Kill A Mockingbird 50th Anniversary Edition (Universal) Robert Mulligan’s film of Harper Lee’s landmark novel pits a liberal-minded lawyer (Gregory Peck) against a small Southern town’s racism when defending a black man (Brock Peters) on trumped-up rape charges. One of the 1960s’ first landmark films, a truly stirring human drama that hits all the right notes and isn’t dated a bit. Robert Duvall makes his screen debut (sans dialogue) as the enigmatic Boo Radley. DVD and Blu-ray double edition. Bonuses: Two feature-length documentaries: Fearful Symmetry and A Conversation with Gregory Peck; Featurettes; Excerpts and film clips from Gregory Peck’s Oscar acceptance speech and AFI Lifetime Achievement Award; Commentary by Mulligan and producer Alan J. Pakula; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS 2.0 mono.
Outrage: Way Of The Yakuza (Magnolia) After a brief hiatus from his signature oeuvre of Japanese gangster flicks,...
By Allen Gardner
To Kill A Mockingbird 50th Anniversary Edition (Universal) Robert Mulligan’s film of Harper Lee’s landmark novel pits a liberal-minded lawyer (Gregory Peck) against a small Southern town’s racism when defending a black man (Brock Peters) on trumped-up rape charges. One of the 1960s’ first landmark films, a truly stirring human drama that hits all the right notes and isn’t dated a bit. Robert Duvall makes his screen debut (sans dialogue) as the enigmatic Boo Radley. DVD and Blu-ray double edition. Bonuses: Two feature-length documentaries: Fearful Symmetry and A Conversation with Gregory Peck; Featurettes; Excerpts and film clips from Gregory Peck’s Oscar acceptance speech and AFI Lifetime Achievement Award; Commentary by Mulligan and producer Alan J. Pakula; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS 2.0 mono.
Outrage: Way Of The Yakuza (Magnolia) After a brief hiatus from his signature oeuvre of Japanese gangster flicks,...
- 2/26/2012
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Downton Abbey Season Two ($49.99 BluRay; PBS)
Poldark The Complete Collection ($79.99; Acorn) -- Don't tell my mother, but Downton Abbey has swiftly declined from a pale imitation of the original Upstairs Downstairs to a pale imitation of Falcon Crest. She's enjoying the show but I quickly switched from eagerness to see if the second season could build on the over-praised first to laughter at its foolishness to boredom. The first season lifted entire plot lines from U/D (and shamelessly from Mrs. Miniver) but it was fun. This season it has gone completely off the rails, with episodes ending with soap-like revelations (complete with "da-dum!" foreboding musical cues), characters behaving utterly without rhyme or reason from one moment to the next. Why, for example, has Isobel Crawley gone from a sensible if blunt woman to a blithering idiot? The plot twists come so fast and furious all you can do is laugh.
Poldark The Complete Collection ($79.99; Acorn) -- Don't tell my mother, but Downton Abbey has swiftly declined from a pale imitation of the original Upstairs Downstairs to a pale imitation of Falcon Crest. She's enjoying the show but I quickly switched from eagerness to see if the second season could build on the over-praised first to laughter at its foolishness to boredom. The first season lifted entire plot lines from U/D (and shamelessly from Mrs. Miniver) but it was fun. This season it has gone completely off the rails, with episodes ending with soap-like revelations (complete with "da-dum!" foreboding musical cues), characters behaving utterly without rhyme or reason from one moment to the next. Why, for example, has Isobel Crawley gone from a sensible if blunt woman to a blithering idiot? The plot twists come so fast and furious all you can do is laugh.
- 2/9/2012
- by Michael Giltz
- Aol TV.
Full disclosure: X is one of my favorite bands, and I've seen this film a number of times, so I will gush about their importance in the world of music and my life. This is a band, formed before I was even born, that has managed to meld all of my influences, both musically and philosophically in a way that no other group has done since. Their affection for pure rock 'n roll, 50's culture, art, literature, and the power of music continues to move me to this day. X - The Unheard Music is a documentary that takes those elements and puts them on display for the layman, and I believe it helps to explain why I hold them so dear. This is no...
- 2/8/2012
- Screen Anarchy
Despite at least one seminal documentary (The Decline of Western Civilization) and a few good books (We Got The Neutron Bomb being one), Los Angeles punk largely lives in the shadow of its New York counterpart. Its modern fandom (though vociferous) is substantially smaller, and is regularly overlooked in the critical hosannas doled out by critical institutions like Rolling Stone, whose blinders generally obscure anybody who wasn't a mainstay at Cbgb. In that context, The Unheard Music is a valuable document, and presents as raw, unfiltered a look into that period of greatest productivity as you’re likely to ever see. It’s a shame that it isn’t stronger as a stand-alone film.
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- 1/16/2012
- by Anders Nelson
- JustPressPlay.net
The Interrupters
The absence of this film in the longlist of nominees for the 2012 Best Documentary Oscar, along with Senna and Herzog's Into The Abyss, is being held as a sign of just how wrong the Academy can get things; if you've seen the other two you'll get some idea of the high regard this is held in to be mentioned alongside them. Directed by Steve James, maker of landmark doc Hoop Dreams, The Interrupters follows three ex-cons and gang members who place themselves in the line of fire – literally, in some instances – to try to curb the violence that has spun out of control on the streets of Chicago. They get to know the street gangs and talk to them in a common language that the police and social services seem ill-equipped to emulate. Their role as "violence interrupters" is an intriguing and brave one: they have no hope...
The absence of this film in the longlist of nominees for the 2012 Best Documentary Oscar, along with Senna and Herzog's Into The Abyss, is being held as a sign of just how wrong the Academy can get things; if you've seen the other two you'll get some idea of the high regard this is held in to be mentioned alongside them. Directed by Steve James, maker of landmark doc Hoop Dreams, The Interrupters follows three ex-cons and gang members who place themselves in the line of fire – literally, in some instances – to try to curb the violence that has spun out of control on the streets of Chicago. They get to know the street gangs and talk to them in a common language that the police and social services seem ill-equipped to emulate. Their role as "violence interrupters" is an intriguing and brave one: they have no hope...
- 1/14/2012
- by Phelim O'Neill
- The Guardian - Film News
This is close to my heart.Wt Morgan's 1985 documentary on the trailblazing punk band X, The Unheard Music is coming to Blu-ray this December 13th from Mvd. The Unheard Music was nowhere on my list of films to expect on Blu-ray, but the prospect of hearing and seeing X in their prime (okay, maybe a tiny bit past their prime) performing live in high definition with uncompressed HD sound is blowing my mind right now.X: The Unheard Music takes long, detailed, and often funny look at the La music scene of the late 70s and 80s and focuses on the group that critics had singled out as the leader of the underground pack. The Unheard Music is a documentary that combines live footage of the...
- 10/20/2011
- Screen Anarchy
X "The Unheard Music" Silver Anniversary Special Edition, available on DVD and Blu-ray, December 13, 2011 is considered the punk-rock era's "Last Waltz", assembled with Scorsese-like care, showcasing the iconic L.A. band X, who changed the face of punk music with their original style.
X, formed in 1977 was among the first wave of American punk bands, with original members, vocalist Exene Cervenka, vocalist/bassist John Doe, guitarist Billy Zoom and drummer DJ Bonebrake.
Available for the first time in HD, the Silver Anniversary Edition includes a new film transfer, 5.1 sound mix, a 25th anniversary dialogue with Doe & Cervenka, an inside look into the making of the film with Angel City Productions (circa 1983), a raw outtake of a live performance of the song "Some Other Time"; the original theatrical trailer and a replica of the original souvenir song book:
"...we see the band at its peak in this legendary film, which took five years to make.
X, formed in 1977 was among the first wave of American punk bands, with original members, vocalist Exene Cervenka, vocalist/bassist John Doe, guitarist Billy Zoom and drummer DJ Bonebrake.
Available for the first time in HD, the Silver Anniversary Edition includes a new film transfer, 5.1 sound mix, a 25th anniversary dialogue with Doe & Cervenka, an inside look into the making of the film with Angel City Productions (circa 1983), a raw outtake of a live performance of the song "Some Other Time"; the original theatrical trailer and a replica of the original souvenir song book:
"...we see the band at its peak in this legendary film, which took five years to make.
- 10/19/2011
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
- Quick Links Complete Film Listing: Premieres Dramatic Comp: Docu Comp: World Dramatic Comp: World Docu Comp: Spectrum: Park City at Midnight: Short Film Programs January 18 to 28, 2007 Counting Down: updateCountdownClock('January 18, 2007'); Artist Spotlight: Pierre Huyghe a collection of short films by the French multimedia artist rarely seen outside of museum or art gallery contexts.The Last Dining Table (South Korea), directed and written by Gyeong-Tae Roh, an evocation of the issues of environmental pollution and family values decay in a minimalist/surrealist style. Offscreen (Denmark), directed by Christoffer Boe and written by Boe and Knud Romer Jorgensen, about an actor making an intensely private home movie about himself. World premiere.Phantom Love (U.S.), directed by Nina Menkes, a surreal tale about the personal liberation of a woman trapped in a family. Shot in Los Angeles and Rishikesh, India. World premiere. Slipstream (U.S.), directed and written by Anthony Hopkins,
- 1/18/2007
- IONCINEMA.com
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