Hi, I’m Max, best friend of Walt Oleksy (waltmax@comcast.net), and I review new DVD and Blu-Ray releases each month at this web site. Here we go again….
Max’s Best DVD and Blu-ray Picks – April 2011
THE FIGHTER
My best pick of the month is this boxing drama that is as much about courage and brotherly love as it is about boxing. I thought I had seen enough boxing movies until I saw this one and put it in a class by itself. Mark Wahlberg gives a Oscar-nominated performance as “Irish” Micky Ward, a light welterweight boxer in the mid 1980s who doesn’t seem to have championship material in him. With the help of his trainer who also is his half-brother, he proves what he has in him. Wahlberg lost the Oscar to Colin Firth in The King’s Speech, which I’ll review next month, but was a worthy contender, if you’ll pardon the boxing reference. One of my favorite actors, Christian Bale, finally won a much-deserved Oscar playing Ward’s half-brother in a supporting performance as a drug and alcohol addict that was simply astonishing. I’m still rooting for him to win a Best Actor Oscar, as I am the same for Ralph Fiennes. Melissa Leo won the supporting actress Oscar playing the boxers’ mother. This is great movie-making, from Paramount.
Other new releases recommended this month:
MADE IN DAGENHAM
Based on true events, this is an excellent film about how equal pay for women workers began by some crusading women at a Ford Motor Company plant in Dagenham, England, in the 1960s and how their victory spread around the world. Sally Hawkins plays a plucky strike-leader, supported by Miranda Richardson, Geraldine James, and others, and Bo Hoskins plays a union leader who lends his support. The movie goes beyond equal rights for women in the workplace to show lack of it in some marriages. A very worthwhile exploration of equal rights, from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment in DVD and Blu-ray.
ANY HUMAN HEART
Just shown on PBS Television’s Masterpiece Classic, this is an off-beat, at times rambling British drama from the novel by William Boyd. Three actors play the leading man (I can’t call him a hero) in various ages of his life from 1920s Paris to the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s, British spying in World War II, the New York art world in the 1950s, and left-wing terrorism in the 1970s. The film flashes backward and forward often as the leading man encounters some famous people of the 20th century including Winston Churchill, Ernest Hemingway, Ian Fleming, and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Two top British actors star. Jim Broadbent plays the hero as an elderly man, and Matthew Macfadyen in midlife. Newcomer Sam Claflin plays the hero as a young man. Two of the many ladies in their life are played by Gillian Anderson and Kim Cattrall. This is adult drama, sometimes very heavy, following a man whose life is heavily determined by his sexual desires, which are intense and frequent. It’s definitely not the usual “safe” Masterpiece movie, sometimes slow-moving, at times depressing, and also hotter than most under the series, with some nudity as well as some foul language. Why am I recommending it? Because it’s still better than most new American theatrical or television movies. At least it tries to be intelligent. I get the feeling it is a Masterpiece Classic because the BBC wants to pull the series, even perhaps screaming and kicking, into more contemporary film-making. My master and I prefer the more traditional Masterpiece offerings. Maybe we’re old-fashioned, but what’s wrong with that? On two DVDs running 240 minutes, from PBS Distribution and WGBH Boston.
SISTERS OF WAR
The true story of an Australian Army nurse and a Catholic nun who braved the Japanese invasion of New Guinea in 1942. They could have fled, but remained with 84 wounded Aussie soldiers at a Papuan mission after the soldiers’ commanding officers abandoned them. The two women became friends and as Japanese prisoners of war endured beatings, torture, and starvation to eventually survive. It’s a terrific story never told until now, on DVD from BFS Entertainment.
A SHORT STAY IN SWITZERLAND
My master and I (and much of the movie-going world) first fell in love with Julie Walters as the girl Michael Caine thought needed an education in Educating Rita in 1983). She continues to play comedy and drama like few others in any country, but hers happens to be England. We’ve seen her more recently in Mama Mia!, Billy Elliott, and the Harry Potter movies). She is more dramatically challenged in this film based on a true story, and has won acclaim for her heart-rendering performance. She plays a doctor diagnosed with an identical neurological illness that made her a widow. She decides that if her illness reaches the critical stage, she will end her own life. She needs her grown children’s’ support and that tears the family apart. This is the kind of human drama that would have a tough, if not impossible, time being made in Hollywood, so once again we have the British to thank for a terrific movie experience. From BFS Entertainment.
THE ROAD TO CORONATION STREET
The story of how Coronation Street, the beloved and longest-running British television series ever made, came to be, despite many obstacles. In 1960, script writer Tony Warren convinced investors there was an audience for a series about real people in working-glass Manchester, and he was more than right. Brits watched the series in big numbers for years. This 50th anniversary two DVD set includes the first episode of the series, remastered. A real treat from ITV Studios Ltd. and BFS Entertainment.
MINDER
Seasons 4 and 5 of the popular British television series that ran from 1979 to 1994. George Cole stars as a used car salesman specializing in shady deals, with Dennis Waterman as a former boxer who becomes his “minder,” British for bodyguard. Both seasons of the comedy-drama are on three DVDs that run for 9 hours each, from BFS Entertainment.
PIECE OF CAKE
This exciting romantic drama of the British Royal Air Force in World War II was shown on PBS Television’s Masterpiece Theatre a few years ago and has been on DVD, but now the complete series is in a three DVD boxed set. The action features some of the most exciting aerial sequences ever shown. Starring as fighter pilots are Tom Burlinson (The Man from Snowy River), Nathaniel Parker (Inspector Lynley), Boyd Gaines, and Tim Woodward in adventures, romances, and rites of passage. Highly recommended, from BFS Entertainment.
THE AMBASSADOR
Pauline Collins (Upstairs, Downstairs and Shirley Valentine) stars as the British ambassador to Dublin, Ireland, one of the most explosive diplomatic posts. She bravely faces issues ranging from territorial disputes, kidnapping, and cults to sabotage and murder. Originally a BBC Television series, it is in a six DVD boxed set from BFS Entertainment. My master and I think you’ll like watching the ambassador juggle her private and public lives in one crisis after another.
PRINCE OF POISONERS
Dr. William Palmer led a seemingly normal life as a physician and race horse owner in a small town in Victorian England. His dark, evil side was revealed as a swindler and womanizer and bodies of his poison victims began being dug up, including his wife and other family members. Based on true events, this story of a serial killer may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s done well by PBS Television and Keith Allen is appropriately horrific as the doctor. A two DVD set from BFS Entertainment.
Documentaries
NOVA: DEADLIEST EARTHQUAKES
Made before the recent devastating 9-point earthquake in Japan, this hour-long documentary seen on PBS Television tells about two of last year’s major earthquakes. The quake in Haiti killed more than 200,000 people and reduced thousands of homes, hospitals, and schools to rubble. The Chili quake, 100 times more powerful, unleashed a tsunami that devastated Pacific coastal towns. As this review was being written, severity of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami was still unknown. But investigations of the Haiti and Chili quake revealed new information about earthquakes and tsunamis and more is expected to be learned from the more recent disasters in Japan. A very timely hour-long documentary from PBS Distribution.
TWO NOVA SCIENCE NOW SPECIALS
“What’s the Next Big Thing?” reveals new discoveries in the fields of medicine, technology, and energy may change the way we live. This special takes us on an exciting expedition into the laboratories of some of the great thinkers of our day to find out what may be ahead. Among the subjects explored are social robots that can speak to us and drive our cars, “designer” microbes that generate biofuels and medicines which could save lives, and the latest studies of earthquakes. From PBS Distribution.
“Where Did We Come From?” reports on the first living thing on Earth; origins of the science of DNA, the building blocks of life; and other journeys back in time to the birth of our solar system. Did the gigantic explosion of an ancient supernova start life on Earth? See this fascinating documentary for an answer. From PBS Distribution.
LEE AND GRANT: Generals of the Civil War
An American Experience two disc set exploring the very different lives and careers of Ulysses S. Grant, the greatest Union hero of the Civil War, and Robert E. Lee, the hero of the Confederacy. Seen recently on PBS Television’s acclaimed biographical series, these biographies reveal the differences and achievements of two great generals and their places in American history. As my master and I discovered, we learned a lot more about both generals than we thought. From PBS Distribution.
THE BEST OF THIS OLD HOUSE
The 200th episode of the PBS Television series is a special DVD with instruction on the 44 most common household projects of the past eight years of shows and how to do them right. Genial host Kevin O’Connor and experts general contractor Tom Silva, plumbing and heating expert Richard Trethewey and landscape contractor Roger Cook travel the U.S. to help homeowners solve their everyday building and maintenance problems. Viewers are walked through projects including how to fix a shaky stair banister, install a shower tile backsplash, install aluminum gutters, and reseed a lawn. I’ve burned a lot of spots on my master’s front lawn this winter, so he’s going to watch that part for sure. Bonus features include a printable photo gallery, more than 180 before and after pictures, and 14 home improvement articles from The Old House Magazine. The two-disc set runs 360 minutes and is available from PBS Distribution.
SUZE ORMAN’S MONEY CLASS
For those who still have money to save or invest, Emmy-winning financial expert Suze Orman tells how to put it to best use in this 80 minute documentary seen on PBS Television. She stresses new thinking on financial fundamentals including saving and investing, building a career, planning for retirement. It makes me want to invest the ham bone I just buried, if I can find a bank that values it as much as I do. The 80-minute DVD is from PBS Distribution.
MAKING STUFF
NOVA, the most-watched science series on television, leads us into the future of high technology in this fascinating series. Viewers are taken into the laboratories and work places of scientific innovations that are ushering in a new generation of materials that are stronger, smarter, smaller, and cleaner. Making Stuff: Stronger tests the world’s strongest new materials. Making Stuff: Smaller examines high-powered nano-circuits and micro-robots and carbon, the element now being manipulated at the atomic level to produce future technology. Making Stuff: Cleaner explores the working world of clean energy including alternative ways to generate it, store it, and distribute it. Making Stuff: Smarter looks into how scientists are turning to nature and biology to produce new developments in materials science. Everyone will benefit from watching this series, but especially students and teachers of science technology. The four parts run an hour each and are on two discs in both DVD ad Blu-ray, from PBS Distribution.
STONEWALL UPRISING
PBS Television’s American Experience series examines the Stonewall riots in New York City that marked the start of the Gay Rights movement in the United States in the mid-1960s when police vice squads raided gay bars and baths. On June 28, 1969, gay men and women fought back when police raided a gay bar in Greenwich Village called the Stonewall Inn. The documentary includes first-hand accounts while revisiting a time when homosexual acts were illegal and considered by many psychologists to be signs of mental illness. Police entrapment was common, and being arrested could cost one their livelihood since licenses to teach, practice law or medicine or even cosmetology, were frequently denied or revoked. A year later, the nation’s first Gay Pride Parade was held as thousands marched up Sixth Avenue. The 90-minute DVD is from PBS Distribution.
THE GREAT FAMINE
American Experience recounts the devastating famine that ravaged Soviet Russia in 1921 and how nearly 300 American relief workers went there to feed the starving over two years. They were known as “The Hoover Boys,” named after President Herbert Hoover who was chairman of the massive American Relief Program. They were the first group of outsiders to break through Russia’s isolation following the Bolshevik Revolution. This is little-known history about Soviet-American relations at a perilous time. The documentary includes film and photographs from American and Russian archives, interviews with survivors, historians from both countries, and writings of relief works. The hour-long DVD is from PBS Distribution.
BROKEN TAIL: A Tiger’s Last Journey
NATURE, always one of my master’s and my favorite television series, reveals the fate of the surviving tigers in India. It is a very moving story about a tiger who, without warning, abandoned its family and sanctuary and went on a run until it was killed by a train. Wildlife cameraman Colin Stafford-Johnson and his Indian sound technician, Salim Ali, retrace the tiger’s tragic trail and piece together his last days which reveal the fate of the few surviving tigers endangered by the encroach of civilization in even the most remote parts of India. The hour-long documentary is on DVD and Blu-ray from PBS Distribution.
OCEANS, VOL. 1
Marine ecosystems and other undersea life is shown in this new PBS Explorer Collection. Famed ocean photographer Al Giddings shows the best of his more than thirty years of deep sea diving and shares images and stories from a lifetime of undersea adventure. Truly amazing and beautiful visuals in a four DVD set running nearly four hours, from PBDS Distribution.
THE WILD WEST
Legendary heroes and villains of America’s Old West come alive again in this six-disc DVD set from the new PBS Explorer Collection. Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley, Geronimo, Jesse James, Kit Carson, Wyatt Earp and others are among those profiled. A new installment of the acclaimed American Experience series, America’s most-watched history series, on DVD from PBS Distribution.
ROUGH CUT: Woodworking with Tommy Mac
Young and personable Boston fine-furniture maker Tommy MacDonald travels to historical New England landmarks to gain design inspiration, then returns to his workshop to show the woodworking steps and techniques it takes to make beautiful and functional furniture like the masters did. If you love fine furniture, you’ll love seeing knowledgeable Tommy Mac show you how it’s made, step-by-step in the most high-tech woodworking shop. The DVD is from PBS Distribution.
For Kids and Puppies
WILD KRATTS: CREATURE ADVENTURES
The popular PBS Television children’s series, Wild Kratts, is now on DVD. Brothers Martin and Chris Kratt take kids on ten adventures around the world. Episodes range from comedy to mystery and rescue as the brothers transform into animated versions of themselves that reveal the secret lives of extraordinary creatures in some of the planet’s most exotic locales. Good educational fun in a two-DVD set from PBS Distribution.
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