From the Big Screen:
“Draft Day.” For more information on this and other releases this week, see the Weekly Guide to Home Video Releases.
This Week’s Highlights:
Universal is getting a jump on Halloween this week with three monstrous releases. First off is the massive “Universal Classic Monsters: Complete 30-Film Collection,” a 21-disc DVD set of all 30 Universal Classic Monster films from 1931–1956 with a 48-page collectible book and hours of
From TV to DVD:
“Bonanza: The Official Seventh Season – Volumes One and Two” (1965-66) Featuring the legendary ensemble cast of Michael Landon, Dan Blocker and Lorne Green, as well as guest appearances from Clint Howard and Sally Newton, the newly remastered seventh season centers on the conflict and passions of the Cartwrights as they attempt to maintain and operate their half-million acre Ponderosa ranch in mid-1800s Nevada. $45.98 each set (Vol 1, four discs, Vol. 2, five discs) or $58.98 for both volumes. From CBS/Paramount … “Chicago Fire: Season Two”
Buzzin’ the ‘B’s:
In “Night Moves” (2013), starring Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning and Peter Sarsgaard, three radical environmentalists look to execute the protest of their lives: the explosion of a hydroelectric dam. When inevitable political fallout occurs, the consequences of their actions begin to unravel the group as they find their own personal limits tested. With trust waning, they
For the Family:
“Transformers: Beast Machines – The Complete Series” (1999) is a four-disc set with 26 episodes, $29.93. When the Maximals return to their home planet of Cybertron, they find that everything has changed. Cybertron seems to have been abandoned … that is, except for the Vehicon
Special Interest:
“Citizen Koch” (2013): What happens to a free democracy when the mass of ordinary voters become powerless against the super-rich few? In 2010, the Supreme Court’s “Citizens United” ruling gave corporations the same rights as individuals to spend freely, and secretly, on political ads. The result has been the democracy-perverting buying of candidates and elections by companies and the superwealthy looking to enrich themselves without regard to the public good. In this expose on the state of democracy in America and the fracturing of the Republican Party, Academy Award-nominated directors Carl Deal and Tia Lessin follow the money behind the rise of the Tea Party, investigating the impact of unlimited, anonymous spending by corporations and billionaires on the electoral process, featuring stories of life-long Republicans whose loyalty is tested when their families become collateral damage in the GOP fight to take organized labor out at the knees. The politically powerful practices of billionaire industrialist brothers David and Charles Koch are just one aspect of this wide-ranging yet sharply focused documentary. From MPI Media Group.- “For No Good Reason” (2014): Documentary explores the life of British cartoon-artist Ralph Steadman, who is best known for the caricatures he created alongside the work of longtime friend, journalist Hunter S. Thompson. Johnny Depp serves as tour guide and narrator. The film, which incorporates archival footage, personal photographs and selections of the artist’s provocative and entertaining work, also features contributions from Terry Gilliam, Richard E. Grant, Tim Robbins, Jann Wenner and features music from Slash, All-American Rejects, Jason Mraz, James Blake, Ed Harcourt and Crystal Castles. On Blu-ray/DVD Combo from Sony.
- “History Detectives Special Investigations” (2014): Four episodes from Season 11 delve into the past to explore some of America’s most intriguing mysteries: What was behind the tragic sinking of the SS Sultana, one of the worst maritime disasters in U.S. history, at the end of the American Civil War? Can the detectives solve the mystery of one of the country’s first recorded serial killings, the Austin Servant Girl Murders of the 1880s? What led to the mysterious vanishing of big band leader Glenn Miller during World War II? Who killed Jimmy Hoffa — and why? $29.99 from PBS Distribution.
- “Out of the Clear Blue Sky” (2012): The riveting, behind-the-scenes story of Cantor Fitzgerald, which was headquartered on floors 101 to 105 of One World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan. On September 11, 2001, when hijackers flew commercial airliners into the Twin Towers, 658 of Cantor’s 960 employees died, amounting to nearly one-quarter of all people killed at the site. Overnight, Cantor became world famous for the worst of all possible reasons. Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick was taking his son to his first day of kindergarten when the first plane hit the North Tower. On September 13, Lutnick’s emotionally raw, tear-filled interviews transfixed the nation. His distraught television appearances struck a deep personal chord with millions of traumatized Americans reeling and shell-shocked by the unprecedented attacks. But, within a week, Lutnick stopped the paychecks of his missing employees. It was an act praised by some — as a necessary step to save the company and to help the victims’ survivors — but lambasted by more, as a self-serving, heartless betrayal by a man well known for his ruthlessness. Lutnick’s prior reputation as cutthroat — even by Wall Street standards — preceded him. The media turned on him and Lutnick went from the sympathetic face of the tragedy to vilified pariah overnight. Then he completely withdrew from the public eye. Although Cantor suffered almost twice the casualties of the FDNY, the company’s story soon faded away. This documentary tells twin stories: the saga of the ravaged business and surviving employees, and an insider’s take on the unusual community of families that formed in the aftermath. From Virgil Films.
- “Richard Lewis: Bundle of Nerves” (2014): Two-disc set featuring the comedian who has turned mental anguish and self-loathing into his own hilarious art form. Contain his much lauded HBO stand-up special “Magical Misery Tour” (1997),m the TV movie “Diary of a Young Comic” (1977) (co-written and staring Lewis) and the brutally honest theatrical film “Drunks” (1995) with Lewis in a dramatic lead role. “Magical Misery Tour” is the “Prince of Pain” doing what he does best in his fourth cable special, working live in front of an audience, baring his soul and getting non-stop laughs. “Diary of a Young Comic” is the cult classic that stars Lewis as aspiring comedian who agonizes over every detail of life and never seems satisfied with his work or himself. While meeting some interesting LA show biz folks along the way, he eventually converts his fears and worries into a hip and hysterical nightclub act. With cameos by Dom DeLuise, George Jessel and Stacy Keach. “Drunks,” based on a hit off-Broadway play, uses an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting as the backdrop for a dark tapestry of stories about addiction and survival. The film features memorable performances by Faye Dunaway, Dianne Wiest, Spalding Gray, Parker Posey, Amanda Plummer, Calista Flockhart, Sam Rockwell and Howard E. Rollins Jr. The cool box cover art is by Richard’s pal, The Rolling Stones’ Ron Wood. From Video Services Corp.
- “Two: The Story of Roman & Nyro” (2013): Combining over 12 years of footage and narrated by their twin sons, the film documents the 12-year journey of legendary songwriter Desmond Child and his lifelong partner Curtis Shaw to create their new modern family, including how they connected with Angela Whittaker, the woman who would carry their twin sons, Roman and Nyro, into the world. From preconception through the boys’ first 10 years, the film is the personal and powerful story of these unique individuals. The second film in the Morgan Spurlock Presents series. From Virgil Films.
- “Years of Living Dangerously: The Complete Showtime Series” (2014): The Showtime series — nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Documentary Series & Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming — explores the human impact of climate change. From the damage wrought by Hurricane Sandy to the upheaval caused by drought in the Middle East, “Years of Living Dangerously” combines the blockbuster storytelling styles of top Hollywood movie makers with the reporting expertise of Hollywood’s brightest stars and today’s most respected journalists. The series profiles heroes in science research, environmental activism and business who offer hope even as the series finds the impacts of climate change are already far worse than most viewers have known. Emmy-winning “60 Minutes” veteran journalists/producers David Gelber and Joel Bach created the series, which was executive produced by James Cameron, Jerry Weintraub and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Bach and Gelber oversaw a team of more than 50 field producers and researchers and relied upon the expertise of dozens of leading climatologists. The series features correspondents — including Hollywood celebrities — who went into the field as journalists, and they succeeded in remarkable ways. The team of correspondents includes Harrison Ford, Matt Damon, Jessica Alba, America Ferrera, Don Cheadle, Michael C. Hall, Olivia Munn, Ian Somerhalder, Pulitzer Prize-winner Thomas Friedman, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Additional correspondents include Leslie Stahl, Mark Bittman, Chris Hayes, M. Sanjayan and more. Series correspondents find that politics is getting in the way of solutions that can reduce or slow the rate of growth of climate change. In a riveting turn of events, correspondent and actor Harrison Ford goes deep into Indonesian deforestation issue and confronts business leaders and the top government official responsible for the destruction of that nation’s forests. Correspondent America Ferrera investigated the battle over the future of renewable energy in the U.S. She profiles a prominent climate skeptic who is leading a national lobbying campaign that crusades against clean energy. She found that renewable energy, once considered too expensive to deploy on a large scale, is making major inroads in the United States. And Matt Damon and Don Cheadle each went into communities and connected with women and men in Texas and California and reported on the real toll climate change is already having on Americans, impacts they were able to witness first-hand. They saw the health and economic impacts that are at the heart of the urgency of the climate change issue, yet are the ones most Americans don’t associate with our changing environment. Five-disc DVD: $55.99 from FilmRise. Due Sunday, Sept. 7.