Mike Clark has been writing about film for more than 20 years, starting with a weekly column in USA Today in 1985. He also served as program planner and director of the American Film Institute Theater.
New on Disc: 'Absolute Beginners' and more …
Absolute Beginners
Available via ScreenArchives.com
Twilight Time, Comedy, $29.95 Blu-ray, NR.
Stars Eddie O’Connell, Patsy Kensit, David Bowie, James Fox.
1986. The movie built on the emerging teen market probably bites off more late-1950s London turmoil than it can chew — which is, relatively speaking, to its credit, given the dearth of daringly ambitious screen entertainments from the mid-1980s.
Read the Full Review
The Whistler & The Power of the Whistler
Available via Sony Choice Collection
Sony Pictures, Thriller, $20.95 DVD each, NR.
Stars Richard Dix.
1944-45. Eight "Whistler" movies sprang from the popular radio show, with the first and third presented here, focused on some crime-centered pickle in which the story’s protagonist had gotten himself immersed.
Read the Full Review
By: Mike Clark
New on Disc: 'Magician' and more …
Magician: The Astonishing Work & Life of Orson Welles
Cohen, Documentary, B.O. $0.016 million, $24.98 DVD, $34.98 Blu-ray, NR.
2014. The accurate rap on Magician, including by the many to whom this brisk overview gave a good time, is its tendency toward surface skimming in dealing with a subject who directed in multiple mediums, acted, was an ubiquitous talk-show guest in his day and counted among his wives Rita Hayworth.
Extras: Includes a short interview with film historian Annette Insdorf.
Read the Full Review
Moonlighting
B2MP, Drama, $29.98 Blu-ray/DVD combo, ‘PG.’
Stars Jeremy Irons, Eugene Lipinski, Jirí Stanislav, Eugeniusz Haczkiewicz.
1982. Jerzy Skolimowsky’s political movie involves a Polish construction crew that probably thinks it’s being offered a good deal for a London assignment but is likely getting ripped off by the party official who has hired them during the days of Solidarity.
Extras: Jeremy Irons offers intermittent commentary on this release’s alternate audio track.
Read the Full Review
By: Mike Clark
New on Disc: '1776: Director's Cut' and more …
1776: Director’s Cut (Blu-ray)
Sony Pictures, Musical, $19.99 Blu-ray, NR.
Stars William Daniels, Howard Da Silva, John Cullum, Ken Howard, Blythe Danner.
1972. The 4K restoration of this somewhat underappreciated flop, an adaptation of the Tony-winning musical about America’s Founding Fathers, rewards the work put into it.
Extras: There’s a pair of commentaries: one carry-over with director Peter H. Hunt with the now deceased screenwriter Peter Stone — plus a new one with Hunt and stars William Daniels and Ken Howard. And screen tests, as well.
Read the Full Review
Smiling Through the Apocalypse
First Run, Documentary, B.O. $0.005 million, $19.99 DVD, NR.
2014. As heydays go, you couldn’t beat Esquire in that counterculture decade, and the Southern gentleman pulling the strings was handsome Harold Hayes out of Wake Forest. Apocalypse, which shares its title with a well-known published anthology of Esquire writings from those very days, is directed by Harold’s son Tom.
Extras: Includes three extended interviews.
Read the Full Review
By: Mike Clark
New on Disc: 'Jamaica Inn' and more …
Jamaica Inn: 75th Anniversary Edition
Cohen, Drama, $29.98 DVD, $39.98 Blu-ray, NR.
Stars Charles Laughton, Maureen O’Hara, Robert Newton, Leslie Banks.
1939. Nobody much, it seems, liked or likes Alfred Hitchcock’s big-screen version of Daphne du Maurier’s Jamaica Inn very much, but it was a huge box office hit, and within clearly stated limitations is a lot more fun to watch than its reputation would indicate — certainly in this new 4K restoration that’s pleasing to watch just on general principle.
Extras: Includes a commentary by film historian Jeremy Arnold and an overview by Hitchcock biographer Donald Spoto that’s kind of a model of its featurette kind.
Read the Full Review
Children of Giant
PBS, Documentary, $24.99 DVD, NR.
2015. The documentary about George Stevens Sr.’s adaptation of Edna Ferber’s novel Giant definitely adds to the literature of a blockbuster that remains fascinating in so many ways.
Read the Full Review
By: Mike Clark
New on Disc: 'Thank Your Lucky Stars' and more …
Thank Your Lucky Stars (Blu-ray)
Available via Warner Archive
Warner, Musical, $21.99 Blu-ray, NR.
Stars Eddie Cantor, Dinah Shore, Joan Leslie, Dennis Morgan, Edward Everett Horton, S.Z. Sakall.
1943. Thank Your Lucky Stars, from Warner, came early in the cycle of all-star musicals, and many regard it as best of the bunch.
Extras: The Blu-ray throws in some bonus extras mostly carried over from the old DVD — including one on the lives of chorus girl bit players.
Read the Full Review
Hombre (Blu-ray)
Available via ScreenArchives.com
Twilight Time, Western, $29.95 Blu-ray, NR.
Stars Paul Newman, Fredric March, Richard Boone, Diane Cilento.
1967. Paul Newman had a distressing streak of indifferent movies in the mid-1960s, but Hombre was something of a return to form.
Read the Full Review
By: Mike Clark
New on Disc: 'X: The Man With the X-Ray Eyes' and more …
X: The Man With the X-Ray Eyes
Kino Lorber, Sci-fi, $19.95 DVD, $29.95 Blu-ray, NR.
Stars Ray Milland, Diana Van der Vlis, Don Rickles, Harold J. Stone.
1963. Director Roger Corman was lucky to have an actor of Ray Milland’s caliber starring as a mad scientist whose experiments on himself give him the ability to see through things.
Extras: In addition to a Joe Dante intro, thee are a couple commentaries on this release: one by Corman and another by film historian Tim Lucas.
Read the Full Review
Kid Glove Killer
Available via Warner Archive
Warner, Drama, $21.99 DVD, NR.
Stars Van Heflin, Marsha Hunt, Lee Bowman.
1942. Fred Zinnemann’s modest debut feature turned out notably well on a ‘B’ budget, with the chief selling point being its subject matter about crime lab microscoping.
Read the Full Review
By: Mike Clark
New on Disc: 'The River' and more …
The River
Criterion, Drama, $29.95 DVD, $39.95 Blu-ray, NR.
Stars Nora Swinburne, Esmond Knight, Arthur Shields, Suprova Mukerjee, Radha Burnier.
1951. Set in what feels like a timeless era that has nothing directly to do with the postwar Gandhi-propelled political upheavals, this remembrance directed by Jean Renoir and based on a novel by British but India-bred Rumer Godden is certainly an alternative to Kipling in its treatment of race relations and choice of central characters.
Extras: A lot of the bonus extras (mostly carried over from the old Criterion DVD) deal with Renoir’s good fortune in finding a financial angel: Kenneth McEldowney, who was a successful L.A. florist. Other supplements here include Ian Christie notes, a new video essay by filmmaker Paul Ryan, an audio interview with McEldowney (who died in 2004); and a 2008 documentary on the movie’s making, which runs an hour.
Read the Full Review
April Love (Blu-ray)
Available via ScreenArchives.com
Twilight Time, Comedy, $29.95 Blu-ray, NR.
Stars Pat Boone, Shirley Jones, Dolores Michaels, Arthur O’Connell.
1957. If late-1950s Hollywood just had to make Pat Boone vehicles, April Love was probably the way to go about it.
Read the Full Review
By: Mike Clark
New on Disc: 'Mr. Turner' and more …
Mr. Turner
Sony Pictures, Drama, $30.99 DVD, $34.99 Blu-ray, ‘R’ for some sexual content.
Stars Timothy Spall, Paul Jesson, Dorothy Atkinson.
2014. Director Mike Leigh’s portrait of the now revered 19th-century artist J.M.W. Turner really has it all: full-blooded characters, the grunt work of artistry, social life among the upper classes, peer rivalries and political considerations.
Extras: One of the delights of Leigh’s hugely informative feature-length commentary is hearing him talk about his abundant stock company stretching many movies back.
Read the Full Review
42nd Street (Blu-ray)
Available via Warner Archive
Warner, Musical, $21.99 Blu-ray, NR.
Stars Warner Baxter, Bebe Daniels, George Brent, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell.
1933. The movie that established Busby Berkeley as a major force is just what one would hope a pioneer Depression-grounded movie would look like in the modern home viewing era.
Extras: Includes a “Merrie Melodie” spoof carried over from the DVD and a newly produced featurette that traces the film’s origins and production.
Read the Full Review
By: Mike Clark
New on Disc: 'Sullivan's Travels' and more …
Sullivan’s Travels
Criterion, Comedy, $29.95 DVD, $39.95 Blu-ray, NR.
Stars Joel McCrea, Veronica Lake, Robert Warwick, William Demarest.
1941. Sullivan’s Travels is a strange movie of contradictions, just as director Preston Sturges was himself. The movie has at least two distinct moods, which is what throws some people – yet this is also what makes it worth so many viewings.
Extras: A sharp essay by The Nation’s Stuart Klawans rounds out a lot of good material in the bonus section, which includes Kenneth Bowser’s first-rate “American Masters” documentary Preston Sturges: The Rise and Fall of an American Dreamer, an interview with widow Sandy Sturges and a new David Cairns video essay. Another treat carried over from the earlier DVD is a commentary by documentarian Bowser, filmmaker Noah Baumbach, plus Christopher Guest and Michael McKean.
Read the Full Review
Blue Sky
Olive, Drama, $24.95 DVD, Blu-ray $29.95, Rated ‘PG-13’
Stars Jessica Lange, Tommy Lee Jones, Powers Boothe, Chris O’Donnell.
1994. Here’s another of Olive’s barebones transfers, though one certainly better than the old DVD; more vivid color intensity does make something of a difference in how the garb that Oscar winner Jessica Lange wears has an emotional effect on the viewer.
Read the Full Review
By: Mike Clark
New on Disc: 'Imitation of Life' and more …
Imitation of Life: 2-Movie Collection (Blu-ray)
Universal, Drama, $26.98 Blu-ray, NR.
Stars Claudette Colbert, Warren William, Louise Beavers, Lana Turner, Juanita Moore, Susan Kohner.
1934/1959. The lush 1959 remake of the Fannie Hurst perennial is so revered by Douglas Sirk worshippers that the not insignificant power of the ’34 John Stahl original tends to be obscured.
Read the Full Review
Singles (Blu-ray)
Warner, Comedy, $19.98 Blu-ray, ‘PG-13’ for language, sex related dialogue and scenes of sensuality.
Stars Bridget Fonda, Campbell Scott, Kyra Sedgwick, Matt Dillon.
1992. Even some people who love 1989’s Say Anything and 1996’s Jerry Maguire may be unfamiliar with the easygoing charmer that writer-director Cameron Crowe sandwiched between them.
Read the Full Review
By: Mike Clark
© 2017 Questex LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part is prohibited.
For technical difficulties plesae contact the webmaster. | | Contact us | Site Feedback
Questex Entertainment : Agent DVD /