This Week on Blu-ray and DVD - May 15, 2012

Why, if I were in John Malkovich's brain, I'd CRUSH everyone who made fun of me . . . and push for a remake of "Dangerous Liaisons" and about 40 retakes of that bedroom scene with Uma Thurman. Don't even get me started on Betty White.

James

Plath

First online:

Sunday, May 13, 2012 - 12:55pm

This past week actress Betty White was ripped on the Internet and called mean things like “senile” and “old hag,” just because she said she was voting for President Obama. Seriously. It’s a good thing those anger-fueled kooks haven’t found a strange sort of crystal and acquired telekinetic powers like the teens from “Chronicle,” or who knows what evil they’d wish upon the 90 year old. I’m guessing they wouldn’t use their powers to lift Ms. White’s skirt over her head to cop a peek, the way the teens in the film did to a cheerleader. But you never know with people these days. Out on Blu-ray and DVD this week, “Chronicle”—this week’s big title—stars newcomers Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell, and Michael B. Jordan (trailer). While the sci-fi action-thriller seems to cover new ground, the main theme is unfortunately all too common: that a little power, first exercised benignly or mischievously, can lead to something much darker, once negativity rears its ugly head (review).

And speaking of ugly heads, Criterion is releasing a Blu-ray edition of “Being John Malkovich”—a wildly inventive film about a puppeteer who somehow finds a portal inside the eccentric actor’s brain. No kidding. It comes from the deliciously twisted mind of Charlie Kaufman (“Adaptation,” “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”) and stars John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener, and yes, John Malkovich. Look for recent Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer in an elevator scene. The Criterion edition of the dramedy-fantasy comes out on both Blu-ray and DVD. In an earlier DVD review, John J. Puccio called it a "wonderfully imaginative, oddball premise where movie characters actually go into Malkovich's brain and look out of his eyes." In his Blu-ray review, Christopher Long says he now only thinks of it as "interesting."

If you’re a fan of Jack London stories, you’ll be looking forward to “The Grey,” starring Liam Neeson, Dermot Mulroney and Frank Grillo. After a plane crash strands seven oil workers in the wilderness, it takes everything they have in order to survive . . . especially when they’re pursued by a pack of wolves as relentless as the posse that went after Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The Londonesque action-adventure, which William Lee called "one of the first great films of 2012," is available on Blu-ray combo and DVD (trailer).

Anson Mount is a one-man wolfpack in “Hell on Wheels: Season 1,” the hit AMC TV series about a former confederate soldier who is doggedly tracking and eliminating all of the union soldiers who went out to their way to kill his family. It leads him to the movable town of Hell on Wheels—one that shifts with the progress of the new track laid by the Union Pacific Railroad. It’s a pretty mesmerizing Western, out on Blu-ray and DVD this week (review).

Even though his storytelling style is about as slow as the road repair crews in my area, Ken Burns still manages to mesmerize people as well. Maybe it’s the quality of photos he digs up, or the visual “Ken Burns effect” that does it, or the insights he comes up with. Watching a Burns film is a little like reading the dictionary, but we do it anyway, and it tends to affect us deeply. Coming to Blu-ray this week is “The War,” Burns’ exploration of the effects that WWII had on a nation.

“My Perestroika” does kind of the same thing with the last generation of children raised behind the Iron Curtain—kids who saw the world as they knew it change drastically when the U.S.S.R. was formally dissolved and communism ended. This highly regarded documentary tracks the lives of five children who came of age when the Soviet Union abruptly ended. What did it do to their lives? How did they adjust? Out on DVD this week, it’s directed by Robin Hessman, who produced “Sesame Street Russia” (trailer).

Next, step into my wayback machine. Like, “1900”—a Bernardo Bertolucci film starring Robert De Niro and Gérard Depardieu as poor/rich boys growing up from 1900-1945. The historical drama depicts the rise of fascism and the communist revolution, and explores the effect that these major historical events had on the two young men’s lives. It's out on Blu-ray for the first time, and 3-Disc Collector's Edition DVD.

But for the sake of argument, say you don’t give a rat’s suspenders about human nature, historical periods, and the effects of events and social systems on people. There are also some mindless comedies new to Blu this week, chief among them the 20th Anniversary 2-movie edition of “Father of the Bride,” starring Steve Martin (review).

And if cyberbullies pick up a copy of another Steve Martin flick—“Bringing Down the House,” also starring Queen Latifah and featuring Betty White—then White, giggling to herself, will have had her revenge.

Here are select new releases for the week of May 15, 2012:

BLU-RAY

Albert Nobbs (2011 drama)
Before and After (1996 crime drama)
Being John Malkovich (Criterion) (1999 fantasy-dramedy)
Born Yesterday (1993 comedy)
Bringing Down the House (10th Anniversary Edition)
Cat Planet Cuties: Complete Series (+ DVD)
Chronicle (+ DVD + Digital Copy) (2012 sci-fi action)
D.O.A. (1988 mystery-thriller)
Duets (2000 music dramedy)
Father of the Bride / Father of the Bride, Pt. 2 (20th Anniversary Edition + DVDs)
Gone Fishin’ (1997 crime comedy)
Grand Canyon, The: A Wonder of the Natural World (National Parks Exploration Series)
Grey, The (+ DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet) (2012 action-adventure)
Hell on Wheels: Season 1
Holy Man (1998 Eddie Murphy comedy)
Kevin Smith Triple Feature (Clerks / Chasing Amy / Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back)
Mr. Wrong (1996 Ellen Degeneres comedy)
New York Stories (1989 dramedy)
1900 (3-Disc Collector’s Edition) (1976 historical drama)
Odessa File, The (1974 drama-thriller)
One for the Money (2012 action crime-comedy)
Order, The (2001 Jean Claude Van Damme actioner)
Rampart (2011 crime drama)
Rampart (+ DVD)
Resistance (2011 drama-thriller)
Spaghetti Western Double Feature: Grand Duel, Keoma
Terminal Velocity (1994 action-thriller)
Universe, The: Season 6
Walking Tall: The Trilogy (Walking Tall / Walking Tall, Pt. II, Final Chapter: Walking Tall (Joe Don Baker/Bo Svenson crime drama)
War, The (Ken Burns 2007 mini-series)
Yosemite: The High Sierras (National Parks Exploration Series)

History of the World in Two Hours (History channel)

RECENT RELEASES

Grey, The (2012 action-adventure)
Houston Astros 50th Anniversary Collector’s Edition
Walking Tall: The Trilogy (Walking Tall / Walking Tall, Pt. II, Final Chapter: Walking Tall (Joe Don Baker/Bo Svenson crime drama)

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