Hi, I’m Max. best friend of Walt Oleksy (waltmax@comcast.net), and I review new DVD and Blu-ray releases each month. Here we go again…
Max’s Picks June 2011
My master and I have found some films to recommend this month that you may not know about because most of them got little attention when released or come via British television. They’re worth a lot more than a sniff at a passing fire hydrant. Two of them, the first two reviewed here, are especially recommended.
THE PLOT AGAINST HARRY
They say every dog has its day. For some dogs, and people, the day takes a while to come. That’s true with this off-beat crime comedy. When it was first shown to audiences in 1970, they didn’t laugh. The writer-director, Michael Roemer, could not find a distributor, so it was shelved. Twenty years later he had it transferred to video to show his children. The video technician thought it was funny, so Roemer submitted it to several film festivals where audiences saw its humor and laughed. He finally got his movie into commercial distribution and it is now available on DVD from New Video. You may not get the humor right way, but then it really starts to get to you. It’s about Harry Plotnick, a small-time Jewish crook and his adventures after being released from a spell in the slammer. Martin Priest plays Harry straight-faced, adding to the humor. He’s a banker for a numbers racket in a New York neighborhood that once was Jewish but when he gets out of prison is now mainly Hispanic and black. He wonders if his numbers enterprise is dissolving because of a plot against him. I won’t say more except that he doesn’t understand why his life has gone haywire as crime marches on almost without him. Maybe the film was ahead of its time, but it’s really fun to watch now. I hope you see it.
It’s in black and white, but don’t let that stop you. You can buy the DVD or rent it from Netflix.
THE ILLUSIONIST
Another off-beat gem. Not to be confused with the 2006 drama of that name with Edward Norton, excellent though that was, this is an equally excellent animated film that almost won an Oscar last spring. It isn’t really a children’s film because its themes are more for grown-ups. Originally an unproduced 1956 screenplay by the French comic genius of pantomime, Jacques Tati (Mr. Hulot’s Holiday and Mon Oncle), it was adapted by Sylvain Chomet, director of the incredibly wonderful 2003 animated movie, The Triplets of Belleville. It tells the adventures of a dying breed of entertainer, the music hall magician, who in 1959 is up against the public’s new loves – television and rock and roll stars. With his magic tricks and performing rabbit he winds up in Edinburgh, Scotland. There a deep friendship grows with a poor orphan girl who believes his magic is real. From there the story takes us into realms of comedy and drama Tati was noted for. In fact, the story is based on his own life experiences. I won’t give away any more of the plot because you should see this unusual film, created not by computers but in beautiful hand-drawn animation which, as one critic said, adds to the film’s charm and its theme of old giving way to new. The DVD is from Sony Pictures.
Also recommended this month:
CHRISTOPHER AND HIS KIND
British author Christopher Isherwood’s memoirs of coming of age in decadent 1930s Berlin at the time of cabarets and rise of Nazi Germany becomes a very watchable movie, especially for those who enjoyed the movie, CABARET, or his novel and TV miniseries of BRIDESHEAD REVISITED. Matt Smith plays Chris and Lindsay Duncan again proves she is one of the Brits’ best young actresses. On DVD from BFS Entertainment.
FALLING FOR A DANCER
It’s 1937 Ireland and a young woman has a fling with a young man and is with child. Shamed, her parents exile her to remote Beara Peninsula to marry an older widower with four children of his own. The girl meets a handsome young man at a dance, and it ignites a chain of tragic events.
Not a bunch of laughs but good drama worth seeing. It was a British-Irish television movie in 1998, now on DVD from Minotaur and BFS Entertainment. The only actor you’d probably recognize is a young Colin Farrell as the boy at the dance, but the entire cast is excellent.
BORDERTOWN
Immigrants from England and Europe resettle in a migrant camp in an isolated region of Australia after World War II. We learn about them before they arrived and their struggle to make new lives in this engrossing television miniseries from 1995. One of the stars is Cate Blanchette. It’s sometimes slow-moving, dramatic, and also funny, nearly 10 hours long in a 3-DVD boxed set from BFS Entertainment.
SERGEANT CRIBB
In foggy Victorian London, wearing a bowler hat, deep black sideburns, squeaky boots, and a sly wit, Police Sergeant Daniel Cribb of Scotland Yard’s newly-formed Criminal Investigation Department looks for perpetrators of dastardly deeds from the brothels to the luxury apartments near Windsor Castle during the time of the Jack the Ripper murders in 1888. Without much help from his superiors, he relies on a lot of patience and painstaking investigation of a wide range of crimes. Episodes are often based on real historical events of the era ranging from the sale of the London Zoo’s famous elephant, Jumbo, to spiritualism and Irish terrorism. Adapted from the novels by Peter Lovesey, the series stars Alan Dobie as Cribb, the very popular British television series ran from 1980 to 1981.
The complete series of 14 episodes, two of them previously unreleased, is available in a 7-disc set from ITV Home Entertainment and BFS Entertainment. Extras include a history of Scotland Yard.
DR. BELL AND MR. DOYLE
Or, THE DARK BEGINNINGS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, this is a “clever and Gothic and sinister” (New York Times) mystery about the origin of the great detective. Ian Richardson plays the brilliant doctor Bell who puts medicine aside to enter the new (in Victorian England) world of crime investigation. Teaming with young Mr. Doyle, played by Robin Laing, they assist local police in solving their most gruesome murder cases. Charles Dance is also in the mystery which is fun to follow. First seen on British television in 2000, the DVD is from BBC television and BFS Distribution.
Documentaries
NOVA: JAPAN’S KILLER QUAKE
A terrific documentary about the March 11, 2011 earthquake that hit Japan, the world’s fourth largest quake since keeping began in 1900 and the worst ever to shake the island, followed by the tsunami with ocean waves 30 feet high that was equally as devastating and destructive. Tens of thousands of people died and homes and businesses were destroyed by the seismic shock wave that released more than 4,000 times the energy of the largest nuclear test ever conducted. The documentary combines on-the-spot reporting, personal stories from survivors, eyewitness videos, and the science behind the catastrophe. The hour-long documentary is on DVD from PBS Television and BFS Entertainment.
BLACK IN LATIN AMERICA
Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Harvard University professor of black history, uncovers Latin America’s African roots in this four-hour documentary seen on PBS Television.
Descendants of more than ten million men and women who were taken from Africa to six Latin American countries – Brazil, Cubs, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Mexico, and Peru – are interviewed on subjects about their roots ranging from colonialism to slavery. The study is a discovery of how Africa and Europe combined to create the vibrant and diverse cultures of Latin America. The two-disc set is available on DVD and Blu-ray from PBS Home Video.
THE KING SPEAKS
The true story behind the movie, THE KING’S SPEECH, reveals more about British King George VI’s stuttering. The 50-minute documentary follows his lengthy efforts to overcome his disability with the help of unorthodox Australian speech therapist, Lionel Logue. Included is archival film of the king’s public speeches and, for the first time, interviews with Logue’s former patients that demonstrate how the king courageously found his voice and rallied his country through World War II. The DVD is from BBC Television and BFS Entertainment.
WILLIAM & KATE: PLANNING A ROYAL WEDDING
If you were among the 3 billion people worldwide who watched the royal wedding of British Prince William and Kate Middleton on television last April 29, you can see how it was all planned by watching this new documentary. We go inside the social event of the new millennium to meet the royal couple’s friends, schoolmates, and designers, chefs, and stylists who tell about how the big event came to be.
The 45-minute documentary is from Simply Media and PBS Distribution.
GEORGE WASHINGTON: THE MAN WHO WOULDN’T BE KING
The father of our country comes to life in this hour-long documentary that reveals him as more than a general who won America’s independence or wore wooden false teeth (or did he?) The real man is seen in this study that makes use of impressionist photography, rare paintings, etchings, and prints from museums, libraries, and private collections.
The revealing documentary is from WGBH Boston and PBS Distribution.
NATURE: BEARS OF THE LAST FRONTIER
Bears are almost as cuddly as dogs, don’t you think? My master and I saw some of this wildlife documentary on our PBS station recently and now we’ve seen the whole NATURE special on Blu-ray. It’s even more gorgeous and exciting in this startlingly sharp format, a three-hour series in which bear lover Chris Morgan studies three of the eight bear species in the world – brown bears, black bears, and polar bears in Alaska. For various reasons including climate change and human encroachment on their habitats, they are forced to demonstrate their survival and adaptability strengths. Morgan and his camera crew follows the bears in a 3,000 mile journey across Alaska, from the coastal areas to the urban, mountain, tundra and ice pack. We see bears are complex social animals whose survival are endangered. The DVD-Blu ray combo pack is from PBS Distribution.
SALMON: RUNNING THE GAUNTLET
Few creatures have a harder time in life than the Pacific Northwest salmon. You’ve probably seen them leap over waterfalls on their hazardous journey to spawn and then die, hopefully before they’re eaten by hungry bears. But this new documentary tells us how scientists are working to save their environment. Millions of salmon once thrived in the Pacific Northwest, but in recent years their alarming absence on the Columbia River is a sign that many salmon species including the Idaho sockeye, are endangered, due not only to over fishing but to habitat loss and dams. The hour-long documentary on DVD and Blu-ray is from PBS Distribution.
SECRETS OF THE DEAD: LOST IN THE AMAZON
Eighty-six years ago, three adventurers set out to find “Z,” a supposed ancient lost city of gold in the uncharted jungles of Brazil. All three vanished without a trace. A new hour-long documentary follows explorer Niall McCann’s attempt to learn what became of explorer Col. Percy Fawcett, his son Jack, and the son’s lifelong friend, Raleigh Rimmell. McCabb’s expedition found two clues. Fawcett’s signet ring and a map with a secret code McCann’s wife deciphered. The expedition causes speculation that a pristine Amazon rainforest with towns and cities existed before the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the New World. Part adventure and detective story, the fascinating documentary seen on Public Broadcast Television is from PBS Distribution.
SECRETS OF THE DEAD: CHINA’S TERRACOTTA WARRIORS
This documentary tells of the clay army of 8,000 life-sized terracotta warriors of China that were discovered a few years ago by farmers digging a well near the city of Xian that date back more than two thousand years. They are believed to have been ordered built and placed there by a conqueror named Qin Shihuangdi, the first emperor of China. After unifying seven warring kingdoms, it was his command that in death, he would be protected by a monumental army. The documentary suggests how and why the colorfully uniformed and fully armed statues were built. Also amazing is, not one of the warriors’ faces are alike. On DVD from PBS Distribution.
BRAIN FITNESS
PBS Explorer television delves into our minds in this documentary on how to train your brain to increase your smarts and memory. The four-disc DVD set runs four hours in telling how the brain works and how to make it work better for you. Older viewers will get tips on how to get the most of their vision and hearing as they age. From BFS Distribution.
SECRETS OF THE DIVINE: THE ALTARPIECE OF CIUDAD RODRIGO
Art, history, and religion come into play in this beautiful documentary about paintings of the 15th century that adorned an altar at a cathedral in west central Spain. A discovery project on the altar artwork that spanned five years resulted in a stunning documentary that has equal parts historical art, mystery, and scientific exploration. The hour-long special is on DVD from PBS Television, the University of Arizona, Arizona Public Media, and PBS Distribution.
NOVA: VENOM: NATURE’S KILLER
Just hope you’re never bitten by a poisonous snake. This hour-long documentary tells a good side of it, reporting that chemicals in snakes that can kill you could also contain the keys to a new generation of advanced drugs that could treat heart attack, stroke, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and cancer. NOVA followed scientists as they tracked down, captured, and samples the systems of the world’s most venomous animals to learn how they kill us, but also how they can save us, too. The DVD is from WGBH Boston, PBS Television, and PBS Distribution.
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