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OnVideo's Weekly Guide to Home Video Releases
This Week's Top Pick:
Alexander the Last
(2009) Jess Weixler, Justin Rice, Barlow Jacobs, Amy Seimetz. A seriously sensual story of a married theater actress, her musician husband, her on-stage lover and her impulsive sister, all caught in their own sexual and creative tangle of commitments, temptations and performance. ((MPI Media/IFC Films).
Amanecer de un Sueno (Awakening From a Dream)
(2009 -- Spain/Poland) Alberto Ferreiro, Hector Alterio, Monica Lopez. A young man comes to terms with his dying grandfather, who raised him, and his mother, who abandoned him.(Vanguard Cinema).
Beyond Sherwood Forest
(2009) Robin Dunne, Erica Durance. Syfy Channel movie has the Sheriff of Nottingham unleashing a hideous winged monster -- a tortured forest spirit -- to destroy the gentle towns and woods of England, massacre Robin Hood's men and capture Maid Marian in 12th century England. Extras: Behind-the-scenes featurette. (Anchor Bay).
Blank Generation
(1980) Richard Hell, Carole Bouquet, Ulli Lommel, Andy Warhol. Classic punk rock movie illustrating the end of the first wave of New York City punk rock better than any documentary. Nada (Carole Bouquet), a beautiful French journalist on assignment in New York, records the life and work of an up and coming punk rock star, Billy (Richard Hell). Soon she enters into a volatile relationship with him and must decide whether to continue with it, or return to her lover, a fellow journalist trying to track down the elusive Andy Warhol (playing himself). Featuring members of the Voidoids and the Ramones. This long-lost film is like a time capsule from pre-Disneynification New York City: sleazy, dirty and most importantly, real. Extras: Interview with Richard Hell by Luc Sante about the making of and stories behind "Blank Generation" (2009). (MVD Entertainment).
Bliss
(2007 -- Turkey) Ozgu Namal, Talat Bulut, Murat Han, Mustafa Avkiran. A tale about love, honor, freedom and redemption, set amidst Turkey's natural wonders. When a 17-year-old Meryem is found unconscious and disheveled by the side of a lake, her family believes the worst -- that her chastity has been lost. To uphold the family honor they turn to an ancient moral code that condemns her to death, and a distant cousin, Cemal, is ordered to carry out the task. Instead, Meryem and Cemal embark on a surprising journey across traditional and modern-day Turkey. (First Run features).
Blood on the Flat Track: The Rise of the Rat City Rollergirls
(2007) Documentary tells the story of the resurgence of roller derby in the U.S. (with more than 30 leagues nationwide forming the Women's Flat Track Derby Association), focusing on Seattle's own DIY league, The Rat City Rollergirls. The league is populated by 80 plus players who are known to the world almost exclusively by their clever sobriquets. Explosive trackside action punctuates the conversation with many of the fan favorites, including Miss Fortune, Basket Casey, Shovey Chase, Burnett Down, Betty Ford Galaxy, and Dirty Little Secret. (Strand Releasing).
The Box
(2009) Cameron Diaz, Frank Langella, James Marsden, James Rebhorn. Available as a standard DVD and in a Blu-ray Combo Pack. Extras: "Richard Matheson: In His Own Words," an intimate interview with the sci-fi legend. Blu-ray adds commentary by director Richard Kelly, "The Box: Grounded in Reality" featurette, "Music Video Prequels: Exhibits A-B-C" featurette goes behind the story with short surveillance montages that expand beyond the story into a secretive world where you are the experiment, "Visual Effects Revealed" with visual effects editor Dylan Highsmith, digital copy. (Warner.)
Breakfast With Scot
(2007) Tom Cavanagh, Ben Shenkman, Noah Bernett. The dream life of an ex-hockey player and his partner, a lawyer, is disrupted when they take over raising Scot, a flamboyant 11-year-old -- not exactly the sports-loving "boy" they expected -- who becomes their charge and whose genuine, true-to-himself behavior forces them to examine their own issues with being gay. (E1 Entertainment).
The Caretaker
(2008) Jennifer Tilly, Judd Nelson, Jennifer Freeman, Jonathan Breck. A group of teenage boys out to give their girlfriends a good scare on Homecoming night -- which lands on Halloween -- head to an abandoned house where they uncover the story of a real life urban legend. (MTI Home Video).
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
(2009) Dir.: Paul Weitz; Stars: John C. Reilly, Ken Watanabe, Chris Massoglia, Josh Hutcherson, Patrick Fugit, Ray Stevenson, Michael Cerveris, Frankie Faison, Jane Krakowski, Orlando Jones, Kristen Schaal, Salma Hayek, Willem Dafoe. Extras: Deleted scenes, "Guide to Becoming a Vampire" behind-the-scenes featurette, "Tour du Freak" of the movie sets. Blu-ray Disc adds more deleted scenes, pocketBLU (which allows users with iPod Touch and iPhones to access features with network connected disc players), SocialBLU networking, U-Control pop-up information and picture-in-picture, BD-LIVE. (Universal).
Colour From the Dark
(2009) Debbie Rochon, Michael Segal, Marysia Kay, Gerry Shanahan, Eleanor James, Emmett Scanlan. based on the "The Colour Out of Space" novel by H.P. Lovecraft, about a couple who find something incredibly sinister stirring at the bottom of the well on their farm, which seeps into their minds and triggers off inexplicable events around them. (Vanguard Cinema).
Crude
(2009) The epic story of one of the largest and most controversial legal cases on the planet: the infamous $27 billion "Amazon Chernobyl" lawsuit pitting 30,000 rainforest dwellers in Ecuador against the U.S. oil giant Chevron. Winner of 19 international awards, "Crude" takes viewers inside a riveting, high stakes drama steeped in global politics, the environmental movement, celebrity activism, human rights advocacy, multinational corporate power, and rapidly-disappearing indigenous cultures. $24.95. Extras: Interview with director Joe Berlinger, deleted scenes, photo gallery, resource guide. (First Run Features).
The Damned United
(2009) Michael Sheen, Timothy Spall, Colm Meaney,Jim Broadbent. The bittersweet story of Brian Clough and his disastrous 44-day tenure as manager of reigning football champions Leeds United. Extras: Four behind-the-scenes featurettes, deleted scenes, commentary, "Cloughisms." Also available on Blu-ray Disc. (Sony).
Dead Snow
(2009 -- Norway) Orjan Gamst, Vegar Hoel, Charlotte Frogner. When a group of medical students take a sex-and-booze-fueled ski vacation to a remote cabin in the scenic Norwegian Alps, they uncover a dark secret from World War II: a battalion of uncontrollable, unstoppable and extremely undead Nazis have thawed out and are on a rampage. Also available on Blu-ray Disc. (MPI Media/IFC Films).
Electric Purgatory
(2009) Documentary examines the struggles of black rock musicians and the industry's ambivalence towards them by combining scintillating performance footage and provocative interview clips. Director Raymond Gayle spent the better part of a year traveling around the U.S. interviewing many of black rock's elite including Fishbone, Vernon Reid, Adam Falcon, Jimi Hazel and Cody Chesnutt. The film also attempts to dissect the stigma black rock musicians face in the black community and more importantly how to bring black audiences back into the fold. Extras: "A Conversation With HR of Bad Brains," deleted scenes, "Outlets for Change," "The New Breed." (Microcinema DVD).
The End of the Line
(2009) Documentary on the impact of over-fishing in the world's oceans. Narrated by Ted Danson. Extras: Ocean-Friendly Seafood Guide: A wallet-sized sustainable fish guide insert; six webisodes with more than 50 minutes of in-depth behind-the-scenes featurettes; video message from Ted Danson; Short film: "The Coral Triangle: Nursery of the Seas." $26.95. (Docurama).
Everybody's Fine
(2009) Robert De Niro, Drew Barrymore, Kate Beckinsale, Sam Rockwell. Extras: "The Making of Paul McCartney's "(I Want To) Come Home," deleted and extended Scenes. (Miramax).
Flame and Citron
(2008 -- Denmark) Thure Lindhardt, Mads Mikkelsen. In 1944 Copenhagen, as the Nazi occupation of Denmark deepens, two Resistance fighters -- a young idealist code-named Flame and tense family man Citron, become, despite their own misgivings about committing violent acts, the underground's most proficient killers of Nazis, collaborators and sympathizers. (MPI Media/IFC Films).
FlashForward, Part 1, Season 1
(2009) Two-disc set with first 10 episodes of the series, $29.99. Extras: "Creating a Catastrophe: The Effects of a Global Blackout" featurette, "Flashforward: A Look Ahead" teaser, "COULD," a look at the second half of FlashForward Season 1, narrated by Dominic Monaghan. Also available on Blu-ray Disc. (Disney).
G.B.H.
(1991) Seven episodes of the Award-winning British political miniseries starring Michael Palin (Monty Python) and Robert Lindsay in a BAFTA-winning role. The celebrated British satire follows the epic power struggle between an unassuming schoolteacher and a corrupt, ambitious politician. $59.99. (Acorn Media).
Howards End
(1992) Emma Thompson, Vanessa Redgrave, Anthony Hopkins, Helena Bonham Carter. The pinnacle of the decades-long collaboration between director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant, "Howards End" is a thought-provoking, luminous vision of E. M. Forster's cutting 1910 novel about class divisions in Edwardian England. Emma Thompson won an Academy Award for her dynamic portrayal of Margaret Schlegel, a flighty yet compassionate middle-class intellectual whose friendship with the dying wife (Vanessa Redgrave) of rich capitalist Henry Wilcox (Anthony Hopkins) commences an intricately woven tale of money, love, and death that encompasses the country's highest and lowest social echelons. With a brilliant, layered script by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (who also won an Oscar) and a roster of gripping performances, "Howards End" is a work of both great beauty and vivid darkness, and one of cinema's greatest literary adaptations. Extras: High-definition digital transfer, supervised by cinematographer Tony Pierce-Roberts; new appreciation of the late Ismail Merchant by director James Ivory; "Building 'Howards End,' a documentary featuring interviews with Ivory, Merchant, Helena Bonham Carter, costume designer Jenny Beavan, and Academy Award-winning production designer Luciana Arrighi;
"The Design of 'Howards End,' a detailed look at the costume and production designs for the film, including original sketches; "The Wandering Company" (1984), a 50-minute documentary about the history of Merchant Ivory Productions; original 1992 behind-the-scenes featurette; booklet featuring an essay by critic Kenneth Turan. (The Criterion Collection).
The Informant
(2009) Dir.: Steven Soderbergh; Matt Damon, Joel McHale, Scott Bakula, Mike O'Malley, Andrew Daly, Adam Paul, Melanie Lynskey, Tom Wilson, Rick Overton, Tom Papa, Candy Clark. Available as a standard DVD and in a Blu-ray Combo Pack. Extras: Deleted scenes. Blu-ray Disc adds commentary by director Steven Soderbergh and screenwriter Scott Burns, digital copy. (Warner).
The James Dean Story: Racing With Destiny
(1997) Casper Van Dien, Carrie Mitchum, Diane Ladd, Mike Connors, Robert Mitchum, Connie Stevens, Casey Kasem, Joseph Campanella. Telefilm biodrama bout the movie legend who burst onto the screen in 1955 with "East of Eden" and then died in September of that year in a car crash; one month later "Rebel Without a Cause" was released, followed by "Giant" in 1956; sealing Dean's reputation forever. (MPI Home Video).
Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths
(2010) Seventh entry in the ongoing series of DC Universe Animated original PG-13 movies. Here a "good" Lex Luthor arrives from an alternate universe to recruit the Justice League to help save his Earth from the Crime Syndicate, a gang of villainous characters with virtually identical super powers to the Justice League. What ensues is the ultimate battle of good versus evil in a war that threatens both planets and, through a diabolical plan launched by Owlman, puts the balance of all existence in peril. Available as a two-disc special edition and Blu-ray Disc. (Warner).
Lock N' Load With R. Lee Ermey: The Complete Season One
(2009) Four-disc set with 13 episodes, $34.95. (A&E Home Entertainment).
Make Way for Tomorrow
(1937) Victor Moore, Beulah Bondi, Fay Bainter, Thomas Mitchell. Leo McCarey's "Make Way for Tomorrow" is one of the great unsung Hollywood masterpieces, an enormously moving Depression-era depiction of the frustrations of family, aging, and the generation gap. Victor Moore and Beulah Bondi headline a cast of incomparable character actors, starring as an elderly couple who must move in with their grown children after the bank takes their home, yet end up separated and subject to their offspring's selfish whims. An inspiration for Ozu's "Tokyo Story," "Make Way for Tomorrow" is among American cinema's purest tearjerkers, all the way to its unflinching ending, which McCarey refused to change despite studio pressure. Extras: "Tomorrow, Yesterday, and Today," a new video interview featuring filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich discussing the career of Leo McCarey and his thoughts on "Make Way for Tomorrow"; video interview with critic Gary Giddins in which he talks about McCarey's artistry and the political and social context of the film; booklet featuring new essays by critic Tag Gallagher and filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier, as well as an excerpt from film scholar Robin Wood's 1998 piece "Leo McCarey and 'Family Values.'" (The Criterion Collection).
Midsomer Murders, Set 14
(2007) Four contemporary, stand-alone British mysteries from the top-selling series. The feature-length mysteries -- the second half of Series Ten -- have not aired in the U.S. and are available to U.S. audiences for the first time. $49.99. (Acorn Media).
Motherhood
(2009) Uma Thurman, Minnie Driver, Anthony Edwards. Uma Thurman stars as a harried mother of two preparing for her daughter's sixth birthday party as myriad urban challenges confront her.Extras: Interviews with Thurman, Edwards, Driver and director Katherine Dieckmann; commentary by Dieckmann and producer Rachel Cohen. Also available on Blu-ray Disc. (National Entertainment Media).
My Three Sons: Season Two Volume One
(1972) Three-disc set with 18 episodes, $39.98. (Paramount).
$9.99
(2008) Voices of Samuel Johnson, Geoffrey Rush, Anthony Lapaglia, Joel Edgerton, Claudia Karvan. Stop-motion animated feature based on the short stories of Etgar Keret. Dave -- who still lives at home and has neither goals nor aspirations -- finds an ad for a small, yet amazing booklet promising the meaning of life for a bargain price. Wishing to share his discovery, his path crosses with those of his unusual apartment block neighbors, who are all on their own searches for hope and redemption. (E1 Entertainment).
No Sweat
(2009) The glamor of the fashion industry often blinds the public to the common reality behind the scenes: dark and dingy factories -- modern-day sweatshops -- where undocumented workers toil under the radar of labor laws for substandard wages, without breaks or benefits. And in an era in which big-name labels are frequently accused of resorting to sweatshop tactics as a means of keeping rising production costs in check, filmmaker Amie Williams turns her lens on the Los Angeles garment industry to investigate trendy clothing manufacturers American Apparel and SweatX's fervently vocal commitment of to creating "sweat-free" threads. $19.95. (Indiepix).
Outlaw Bikers
(2008) Four episodes of the National Geographic Channel series that explores the world of the Hell's Angeles, $14.98. (E1 Entertainment).
Project Runway Season 6
(2009) Four-disc set with 14 episodes, $27.99. (Vivendi Entertainment).
The September Issue
(2009) The September 2007 issue of Vogue magazine weighed nearly five pounds, and was the single largest issue of a magazine ever published. With unprecedented access, this documentary tells the story of legendary Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour and her larger-than-life team of editors creating the issue and ruling the world of fashion. (Roadside Attractions).
Shall We Kiss?
(2009 -- French) Virginie Ledoyen, Emmanuel Mouret, Julie Gayet, Michael Cohen, Frederique Bel, Stefano Accorsi. Wry, observant and touching contemporary meditation on the myriad implications of a simple kiss. When Gabriel and Emilie meet by chance, he offers her a ride and they spend the evening talking, laughing and getting along famously. At the end of the night, Emilie declines Gabriel's offer of "a kiss without consequences." Emilie admonishes him that the kiss could have unexpected consequences, and tells him a story, unfolding in flashbacks, about the impossibility of indulging your desires without affecting someone else's life. (Music Box Films).
Sorority Row
(2009) Briana Evigan, Rumer Willis, Audrina Patridge, Carrie Fisher, Julian Morris, Jamie Chung, Leah Pipes, Margo Harshman, Caroline D'Amore. A group of sorority sisters try to cover up the death of their house-sister after a prank gone wrong, only to be stalked by a serial killer. Also available on Blu-ray Disc. (Summit Entertainment).
Stephanie's Image
(2009) Janis DeLucia Allen, Melissa Leo, Chirs Butler. A documentary filmmaker investigates the murder of a former model and finds that everything she's been told about her death is false. (Vanguard Cinema).
Swedish Auto
(2006) Lukas Haas, January Jones. The secret lives of a shy auto mechanic locked into his daily work routine -- who furtively follows a local girl he admires and stands under her bedroom window listening to her play violin -- and a pretty waitress at the local diner -- who hides a deep personal wound -- intersect in this melodrama. (MPI Media/IFC Films).
Taggart, Set 2
(2009) Eight episodes from the world's longest continually running police drama. The complete 20th season is available to U.S. audiences for the first time. The smash hit series follows a team of Glasgow detectives taking on the city's worst crimes. $59.99. (Acorn Media).
Three Blind Mice
(2008 -- Australia) Ewan Leslie, Toby Schmitz, Matthew Newton. Three naval officers on shore leave in Sydney, Australia, after six months at sea, spend a final night of women, poker, family dinners and a dark secrets before shipping out for Iraq the next morning. (MPI Media/IFC Films).
The Trade
(2003) Eddie Mills, Elizabeth Banks, Sascha Knopf, Judah Friedlander, Victor Slezak, James Rebhorn. A young, ambitious Wall Street exec discovers that it's never business as usual when he gets involved with a beautiful, carefree woman with an adventurous spirit, and a high-stakes business deal -- one that involves him firing his best friend. (Echo Bridge Entertainment).
Unbeatable Harold
(2006) Gordon Michaels, Nicole Dehuff, Henry Winkler, Gladys Knight, Taryn Manning, Charles Durning, Lin Shaye, Robert Peters, Phyllis Diller, Dylan McDermott. Romantic comedy about Elvis-wannabe loser Harold James Clark, proud assistant manager of the Wagontrain Steakhouse, who hits it big when he meets Wanda Livingston, who just left her 80's rocker boyfriend. Harold wants Wanda's love, her boyfriend wants her back ... and Wanda just wants to run. (Echo Bridge Entertainment).
The Universe: The Complete Season Four
(2009) Four-disc DVD and three-disc Blu-ray with 12 episodes, $39.95/$54.95. Features amazing new discoveries about our universe -- some just uncovered in the past year. Uses stunning CGI graphics to explore death stars, ringed planets, star clusters, wormholes and more. (A&E Home Entertainment).
Wrong Side of Town
(2010) David Bautista, Rob Van Dam, Nelson Frazier Jr., Ja Rule, Omarion, Ava Santana. An ex-Marine is forced to take on a gang of murderers after he accidentally kills a crooked nightclub owner who attacked his wife. Extras: "Behind Wrong Side of Town" featurettes: "Set Life With Ron Van Dam," interviews with the stars, stunts with Ron Van Dam; Kali training video with David Bautista, Marrese Crump and Oscar Lugo. Also available on Blu-ray Disc. (Lionsgate).
The Wiggles: Hot Poppin' Popcorn
(2010) Join the ringmasters of the pre-school circus in their latest fun-filled adventure, featuring a slew of 18 brand-new songs to wiggle and sing along to including a special performance by legendary Australian singer Jamie Redfern. Extras: E-Storybook: "Circus Practice," "The Kingdom of Paramithi" theme song, photo gallery. $14.97. (Warner).
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