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 Picks – May, 2011
Before naming my best picks of the month I want to urge you to see the Blu-ray editions of two of the greatest movies ever made… GONE WITH THE WIND and THE WIZARD OF OZ.
Both released the same year, 1939, and both directed by Victor Fleming. The restored clarity of the films is simply astonishing both visually and in sound, and the extras are wonderful in understanding the difficulties of making both films and their ultimate triumph. Although David O. Selznick and MGM gave us both films, the Blu-ray and DVD releases are from Warner Bros. If you consider yourself a movie lover, see both of these in Blu-Ray and be sure to watch all of the extras. Thank you. Woo woo!
Two of my best picks of the month are both foreign films, one from England that you’ve heard and read a lot about, and one from Finland that you probably have never heard of.
The top film critics rarely review movies like the one from Finland because they don’t even appear on the pop charts, they just quietly win audiences when they’re given a chance to see them. That’s the kind of movie I like to tell you about.
THE KING’S SPEECH
King George VI of England can hardly speak because of stuttering, so he gets help from a self-styled speech therapist and is able to talk by radio to the people of his realm about being brave as World War Two begins between the United Kingdom and Germany. It’s grand story-telling and film-making, both dramatic and at times humorous, and deserved the Best Picture Oscar and a Best Actor award for Colin Firth as the king. He and Geoffrey Rush give wonderful performances as they first clash and gradually become good friends as the king slowly gains mastery of his public speaking. My master and I also enjoyed seeing the stellar supporting cast. Jennifer Ehle (who played Jane Austen's heroine to Firth's Mr. Darcy in the classic BBC Pride and Prejudice, plays Rush's wife in this film, while Anthony Andrews of Brideshead Revisited plays a prime minister. Also in the cast are Helena Bonham Carter, Derek Jacobi, Claire Bloom, Michael Gambon, and Guy Pearce. Each one a star in their own right, playing supporting roles. I highly recommend it. The Blu-ray and DVD from Anchor Bay both have extras on historical background on the events and the film.
Max’s rating: The highest. Paws up, tail wags.
SECRETARIAT
A housewife and mother, the daughter of racing horse farm owners, assumes responsibility for the farm and its horses after her mother’s death and father’s debilitating illness.
She believes in the future greatness of an unlikely foal and together they prove they are the stuff of champions.
Based on true events, this is great filmmaking and very moving entertainment, one of the best sports dramas in many years. The horse owner is Penny Chenery Tweedy and the horse is Secretariat who won the Triple Crown of horse racing in 1973 and remains the greatest racing horse of all time. Diane Lane is marvelous as Mrs. Chenery-Tweedy and
John Malcovich is almost likeable (a rarity for him in films) as the veteran horse trainer she hires. You’ll cheer for owner and horse in this wonderful film from Walt Disney Pictures.
Max’s rating: Two paws up and lots of “Woo woos!”
AMBUSH
This 1999 war drama from Finland is one of the best war movies my master and I have seen in years. Finland chose to side with Germany early in World War II, and during the summer of 1941 the Finnish army has been mobilized along the border with Russia. A young lieutenant is the leader of a platoon of soldiers waiting for orders to go on the offensive. He receives orders for a reconnaissance mission through the wilderness around a large lake to search for possible Russian defensive positions. While resting temporarily in a village taken from the Soviets, the lieutenant and his fiancé are reunited briefly while she is serving in the Finnish Women's Auxiliary Corps. When the platoon continues with its mission, the unit the young woman is in is attacked and we’re not sure if she escaped. Later the lieutenant receives a report that she was among those killed. How this affects the lieutenant personally and as leader of his platoon I’ll leave for you to learn when you see this exceptional film. It stars a very charismatic Peter Franzen, a handsome young new light of Finnish and European films who could quickly become a new international superstar. So too could his real-life wife, Irina Bjorklund, who plays his fiance in the film and is both beautiful and gives a very moving performance. They’ve co-starred in several other Finnish films and moved to Los Angeles after AMBUSH was filmed. It is in Finnish with English subtitles, but don’t let that keep you away. It’s beautifully written, directed, filmed, acted, and scored. Don’t miss this one. From Vanguard Cinema.
Max’s rating: Two paws up and lots of tail wags.
Also recommended this month:
A TALE OF TWO CITIES
Charles Dickens’ classic novel of love and self-sacrifice has been adapted for the screen many times, and my master and I still rank the Ronald Colman 1935 version as our favorite. But the 1989 Masterpiece Theatre television mini-series comes close, not only because a longer visit to the story can tell more of it, but the performances and production values are also so excellent. James Wilby plays British Sydney Carton who loves beautiful Lucie Mannette and willingly takes the place of her lover on the guillotine during the French Revolution. Serena Gordon plays Lucie and the cast also includes John Mills and Jean-Pierre Aumont. The mini-series is available in a two-disc set from BBC Television and BFS Distribution. I agree with The Boston Globe reviewer who said “If you’re looking for an intelligent adaptation of A Tale of Two Cities, this one is for you.”
MOLL FLANDERS
Daniel Defoe’s lusty story of an 18th Century British girl who is a lover, a criminal, and a master of disguise follows her from birth in a prison to (perhaps) death on the gallows. Along the way, she romps with royalty and others but always remains steadfastly in love with one man, played by Daniel Craig in a ludicrous wig and several years before he became James Bond. Moll is played by Alex Kingston who was Dr. Elizabeth Corday on television’s ER. It’s grand-scale drama and fun on DVD, originally shown on Masterpiece Theater in 1996 and now on DVD from PBS Distribution. It’s not the greatest Masterpiece Theater outing, but very entertaining.
THE TRENCH
A group of British soldiers, most of them in their late teens, face the Germans at the Battle of the Somme in France in the summer of 1916 during World War I. Daniel Craig is a sergeant who must lead them out of trench warfare to their tragic death in what became the worst defeat in British military history. Heavy war drama made in 1999, it is on DVD from PBS Distribution. Lest we forget.
PARTY ANIMALS
Four young researchers and advisers try to navigate though the world of British politics in this dramatic series seen on BBC Television. Their adventures involve power plays and sexual intrigue, always staples of politics everywhere.
This is entertaining while offering glimpses into what goes on in Brit politics. A 3-DVD set from BFS Entertainment.
Documentaries and Specials
ERNIE KOVACS COLLECTION
An unique and hilariously funny comedian, Kovacs set a standard for comedy that has rarely even been approached.
This is a six-DVD set of the best of his television shows as well as a “life and career of” features collection,
From his appearances on local television in 1951 to network stardom and his untimely death in an automobile accident in 1962. Included are essays from friends and others who knew and worked with him and many vintage videos. We owe a special thanks to his widow, actress-singer Edie Adams who
was largely responsible for putting this tribute together before her own death, and to their son Joshua Mills. Here again for those like my master who saw Kovacs on television and for those who never heard of him, are his signature creations… The Nairobi Trio of almost musical chimps, Percy Dovetonsils the martini-drinking poet, Leena, Queen of the Jungle, and the many nonsensical but side-splitting routines for which he was one-of-a-kind. Don’t miss this great set that brings back one of the truly great comedians.
FRONTLINE: Post Mortem
Coroners’ and forensic pathologists sometimes make errors that cause guilty suspects to go free and also the innocent to be accused of crimes they didn’t commit. If you’re fans of television crime investigation shows such as CSI: Miami and Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, you will see the reality side of death investigators whose work sometimes lets murderers go free and the innocent are sent to jail. This Frontline television documentary reveals a dysfunctional system with few standards and little oversight that can lead to mistakes which also can be literally buried, and deeper than I put the bones in my master’s back yard. The hour-long documentary is from PBS Distribution.
THOROGHBRED: Born to Run
A timely documentary to watch before or after you watch SECRETARIAT. The beauty and courage of the thoroughbred race horse and “the sport of kings” is explored in this documentary directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Paul Wagner (The Stone Carvers). He travels from Kentucky to Dubai and the Arabian desert to trace the breed’s fascinating history and meet the people who breed, sell, race, and love them. The documentary runs 105 minutes and has more than an hour of extras including segments about the breed’s unique bond with humans. From PBS Distribution.
FRONTLINE: REVOLUTION IN CAIRO
This excellent hour-long documentary is about the youth movement that ignited the April 6 uprising in Egypt to depose dictator-president Honi Mubarak, and of the Muslim Brotherhood, the most organized and powerful of the country’s opposition groups. The uprising was only the beginning, as a new fight for power in Egypt unfolds.
The DVD is from PBS Distribution.
FREEDOM RIDERS
The historic civil rights bus rides of 1961 are retraced in this hour-long documentary from American Experience. From May until November that year, more than 400 black and white Americans risked their lives, some were savagely beaten and put in prison for traveling together in the deep South in what became known as the Freedom Rides that ignited the civil rights movement. A two-hour documentary in both Blu-ray and DVD from PBS Distribution.
WIILLIAM AND KATE: Planning a Royal Wedding
If you were among the more than a billion people last month who watched the royal wedding of Britain’s Prince William and his bride Kate Middleton in Westminster Abbey In London, this 45-minute DVD will tell you how it all was planned. It covers everything from what was served at the wedding feast at Buckingham Place to where they newlyweds went on honeymoon. Friends, schoolmates, and former staff as well as fashion designers, chefs, and hair stylists are interviewed, as well as several journalists who watched the prince grow into the man he is today. The DVD is from PBS Distribution.
THE GREELY EXPEDITION
A harrowing American Experience adventure more exciting than most movies, this tells the true story of a scientific expedition from Newfoundland into the high Arctic Ocean in 1881. Led by Lt. Adolphus Greely, twenty-five men set off to collect scientific data from a vast area that a British admiral had described as “sheer blank.” Three years later, only six survivors returned, telling of shipwreck, starvation, mutiny and cannibalism. The hour-long documentary from producer Rob Rapley (Wyatt Earp)draws upon scientific accounts, diaries, photographs, and letters to tell the story of the expedition which shows how poor planning, personality clashes, questionable decision, and bad luck created a tragedy. Not fun, but very watchable, from PBS Distribution.
Kids and Puppies
No movie to recommend this month for kids, but something to share with you. A 9-year-old boy in Mesa, Arizona, has become a hero for helping save the life of his 2-year-old sister who wandered off and fell into the family’s backyard swimming pool. He alerted his mother who pulled the girl out of the pool, then told his grandmother to call 9-11, and while waiting for paramedics to arrive, he applied cardiopulmonary resuscitation to his sister which started her breathing. Paramedics got her breathing back to normal and asked the boy how he learned to give CPR. He said, “From watching the movie, Black Hawk Down.” Thanks, Ridley Scott, for making that excellent 2001 film about the U.S. in Somalia in 1993. It wasn’t a kids movie, but it was lucky that boy saw it.
Bones to Pick
I suggest, as hard up as many of us may be financially, like my master, that we all send money immediately to Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway and the producers of LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS. The two superstars who earned millions for appearing in the film are stark naked in about half of the movie. In their contracts, they both agreed as to how far their nudity would go. I’m not prude, but the movie is about as close to a porn film as a major production can get. It’s a modern romance with a subplot of how the trillion-dollars-a-year pharmaceutical industry influences doctors and others in the medical profession to buy their drugs. This came home to me first-hand when a few weeks ago a neighbor said her doctor couldn’t figure out the source of her back pain so she gave her a big paper grocery bag full of samples that drug salesmen had given her. How the pharmaceutical companies operate is a worthy subject for a film, but the producers must have decided it would appeal to audiences more if it was heavily laced with nudity. Jake plays a pharmaceutical salesman who, among other things, learns the hard way, pardon the pun, that a sex-desire-enhancing drug can hurt.
Watching the film, I kept thinking that the trend toward nudity in movies is a far cry from the restraint of some of the most romantic movies ever made, from CASABLANCA to AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER and LOVE IS A MANY-SPLENDORED THING. The lovers in those and many other classic romantic films made love with their clothes on, and rarely even kissed. It was more a matter of romance than of sexual desire.
Which reminds me of another new film, I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRIS, in which Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor are gay lovers. Okay, no problem with that, except why does Carrey have to hump McGregor all the time? And those scenes are not fleeting, they’re long. It annoyed me almost as much as Carrey’s constant facial mannerisms which always turn me off. No, I am not a fan of his type of comedy, which I see as mainly an ego trip. I am a fan of McGregor, a fine actor who I thought was wasted in this movie.
