Max's Best DVD and Blu-ray Picks, April 2012

Woof woof again. Most of the Academy Award winning films and stars are on DVD this month and next. There were some really good movies and performances, but you’ve read about them everywhere else, so my picks this month are for some you may not have known about, or they are new to theaters or television.

BIRDSONG

A new Masterpiece Classic for television, based on the best-selling novel by Sebastian Faulk, popular new British actor Eddie Redmayne and Clemence Poesy, of the “Harry Potter” films, star as two young lovers in England before World War I. On the eve of battle on the Western Front in 1916, Redmayne, a British lieutenant, remembers his visit to a beautiful and peaceful estate in France where he fell in love with his elderly host’s beautiful young wife, and she with him. This begins a secret though passionate love affair. The big battle the British troops face will take place at the Somme River, along which the lovers had been part of a boating party the year before. Now it is to be the scene of England suffering its worst one-day combat losses in history. Anthony Andrews and Matthew Goode are among the strong supporting cast, but I won’t tell you more so I don’t spoil your enjoyment of this really fine film, with a screenplay by Abi Morgan who wrote “The Iron Lady” and “Shame.” On both DVD and Blu-ray from PBS Distribution starting April 24, shortly after its premier showing on PBS Television.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

Charles Dickens’ classic novel gets a new treatment as a Masterpiece Classic, in part to celebrate the 200^th anniversary of his birth this year. It is a lush re-telling of the coming-of-age story in not-so Merry Olde England with newcomer Douglas Booth as Pip the young man and Oscar Kennedy as Pip boy. The formidable Miss. Havisham is played by Gillian Anderson, and the strong supporting cast includes Vanessa Kirby as Estella, and David Suchet, of the wonderful Poirot series, as Jaggers, Miss Havisham’s attorney, and Ray Winston as the fugitive Magwitch who befriends Pip and assures his great expectations as a wealthy gentleman. You may have seen other versions of the story but this telling holds its own, especially since it runs three hours and has more time to develop the long novel. Shown on PBS Television recently, it is available on DVD and Blu-ray from PBS Distribution.

Oldies on DVD and Blu-ray

THE RED HOUSE

What mystery lies behind the doors of the red shed in the woods? Only Edward G. Robinson knows (until we do at the end), but along the way it’s a spooky thriller. Lon McCallister, a 1940s teen idol, plays his young farm helper and Judith Anderson is Robinson’s devoted sister. Rory Calhoun is a handsome young cad in the film and Julie London appears before she became a pop singer and television star. It was filmed in 1947, based on a 1943 novel by George Agnew Chamberlain, now newly restored in high definition and available in a DVD/Blu-ray combo pack from Film Chest on the HD Cinema Classic label.

Documentaries

WAR HORSES OF WORLD WAR I

If you loved the new movie WAR HORSE, you will want to know more about the horses who went into action with soldiers in the First World War. This excellent and exciting documentary tells about the one million British horses that served in the war. Rare archival material and recollections of surviving soldiers as well as new historical research tell the story as horses were called to war duty from every farm in England. At war’s end, only 60,000 horses made it back home. A 45-minute DVD documentary from BFS Entertainment.

SIX STEPS TO BETTER GOLF WITH MICHAEL BANNON

My master says he could have used this advice before he gave up playing golf to walk the first of his three dogs (I’m the third), and assures me that he made the right choice. Still, he says this is excellent advice for anyone playing the sport, from beginner to pro. Bannon is coach to Rory McIlroy, winner of the U.S. Open in 2011 and No. 1 world-ranked golfer today. Bannon shows and tells his secrets of a great, winning golf swing, and promises that if you practice it for 10 minutes a day for six weeks, you will have a solid golf swing. The DVD is from BFS Entertainment.

WAKING THE TITANIC

This is the true story of fourteen young men and women from a poor community in County Mayo, Ireland, who sought a better economic life in America by sailing aboard the Titanic. They traveled in third class and all but three lost their lives in the ship’s tragic sinking. Their stories are told by the three villagers who survived, and also from their descendants. The more than two-hour documentary is on DVD from BFS Entertainment.

SCOTLAND HIGHLANDS and SCOTLAND ISLANDS

A fine travelogue to the mountains of Bonnie Scotland by way of air travel. The journey covers the geography and history of the highlands, covering 200 years of history, visiting castles, battlefields, abandoned villages and other sites. A companion DVD takes viewers to the islands of Scotland, again by aerial view. Both are available on DVD from BFS Entertainment.

AMERICA REVEALED

Now that you’ve been to Scotland, how about an aerial view of America, focusing on its transportation, food, energy, and manufacturing industries. It’s a rare opportunity to see how our country works. Ever wonder how electricity works? You’ll learn a lot about that and other things. I did. On both DVD and Blu-ray from PBS Distribution.

SURVIVING HITLER: A LOVE STORY

The true story of a teenage girl in Nazi Germany who discovers she is Jewish and joins the German resistance movement. She meets an injured German soldier, they fall in love, and become co-conspirators in the final plot to assassinate Adolph Hitler. A fascinating documentary with narration by the girl herself and 8mm film footage shot by the boy. Fortunately, it has a happy ending for the young lovers. The DVD is from Osiris Entertainment.

INSIDE NATURE’S GIANTS: MONSTER PYTHON and SPERM WHALE

I wouldn’t want to get close to either of these two species, two of the largest on the planet, but it was good to learn about them from the safety of my master’s couch. Each is on an hour-long DVD from PBS Distribution.

NOVA: ICE AGE DEATH TRAP

Who was the man whose frozen body was found to be 100,000 years old, when mastodons and saber tooth tigers roamed the planet? He was discovered during construction of a Colorado ski resort, and archeologists are studying it to find out how the man lived and died, suspecting he was murdered. Who done it, way back when, and why? The story is told on an hour-long DVD from PBS Distribution.

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: JESSE OWENS

The great American athlete and Olympic champion is profiled in advance of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London that begin on July 27. The star of the 1936 Olympic Games was despised by Adolph Hitler and his Nazis, but loved by the rest of the world. The 22-year-old son of a sharecropper won four Olympic gold medals, but when he returned home, he couldn’t even ride on a bus. The hour-long biography is on DVD from PBS Distribution

SECRETS OF THE MANOR HOUSE

If you got hooked on DOWNTON ABBEY as my master and I were, you’ll like this DVD about the British mansions and their upstairs-downstairs occupants from the Edwardian period 100 years ago to the end of World War I and the present. In 1901 there were more than 1.5 million servants in Britain and grand estates occupied half the land. Many of them have closed, too expensive to maintain. Some remained open because their aristocratic owners married wealthy Americans, such as Jennie Jerome, who married the seconds son of the Duke of Marlborough and became the mother of Winston Churchill. In The hour-long DVD, seen on PBS television, is available from PBS Distribution. And don’t spill the gravy or forget to feed the dog.

SIMPLY MING: COOKING WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILY

Emmy-award winning chef Ming Tsai and guest chefs show how to fillet a fish and cook veggies kids will love (dogs, too). They cooked both in the studio and on the road, never with a recipe. Almost three hours of gourmet cooking tips from some of the best. The DVD is from PBS Distribution.

LIDIA CELEBRATES AMERICA: Weddings.

Popular Italian chef Lidia explores traditions and recopies of American weddings in this hour-long program. Locations include New Orleans with Mardi Gras Indians dancing in colored feathers and where the fare is jambalaya, crawfish, and pralines. In Chicago, an East Indian wedding menu includes seafood kebabs and traditional Indian breads. Weddings in Flushing, N.Y. and Manhattan conclude the wedding journeys. As seen on PBS Television, the DVD is from PBS Distribution.

SING-A-LONG BEATLESONGS

That old favorite in movie theaters on New Year’s Eve, the bouncing ball sing-a-long, is revived for this musical featuring the songs of The Beatles. Lead and background vocals are sung by Bobby Cowsill, whose family band inspired television’s The Partridge Family series. Historic footage of the Beatles is featured in this nostalgic DVD for the whole family to enjoy. From MVD Entertainment Group and Synergy Entertainment.

See you again at the same fire hydrant next month. And keep those doggie biscuists coming.

Max’s Best Blu-ray and DVD Picks -- March 2012

Hi, I’m Max. best friend of Walt Oleksy (waltmax@comcast.net), and I review new DVD and Blu-ray releases each month. We don’t care for most of the new stuff out of Hollywood. We’ve seen more than enough thrillers, car chases, men and women in their birthday suits, and comedies the critics say are “hilarious” but which just aren’t funny unless you’re two years old (I’m nine and my master admits to being “over thirty-nine.” We don’t watch anything with vampires in it, except the original “Dracula.” We like movies that tell a good story and maybe we learn something from it. We figure you can read about the new so-called blockbuster films everywhere else, so we look for flicks that are worth seeing but get little publicity and are not seen in most mall theaters.

I’m happy to “Woof!” that there are some exceptionally fine films on DVD to recommend to you this month.

Picks of the Month

DOWNTON ABBEY, Season Two

If you loved the first season, you will probably feel the second is as good or even better as the British manor house “upstairs downstairs” story continues into World War II. Class struggles and romances continue with lots of suspense and intrigue. All the characters from the first season resume their roles and several new ones arrive. I won’t give away any of the plot so you can enjoy it all as it unfolds, but assure you that Maggie Smith gets in more sarcastic wit. And the upstairs dog goes missing in an episode that kept me panting. It’s on both Blu-ray and DVD from PBS Entertainment.

Max’s rating: Two paws up and lots of tail wags.

HUGO

A wonderful movie that is also full of wonder and won several Academy Awards last month. Set in 1930s Paris, a boy named Hugo tries to complete the restoration of an automaton that his father was working on before dying. He lives in the Paris train station, and that’s about all the plot I’ll tell you. You’ll love the unfolding of the story as it takes you to several mysteries and surprises in an adventure about the early years of moviemaking and the genius who now is considered the father of motion picture special effects. If you’ve seen AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS (1956) you will learn about the filmmaker of the opening segment in which the Man in the Moon is hit in the eye by a large shell from Earth. Martin Scorsese directed Hugo and he grew up much like the boy, entranced by the world of early moviemaking. It’s on DVD and Blu-ray, as I saw it, and also in 3-D from Paramount Pictures. It’s a family-friendly film, but I doubt anyone younger than a teenager or a very smart dog like me would understand it.

THE MILL AND THE CROSS

This film from Poland is unlike any I’ve seen before, and I highly recommend it not only for art lovers and those seeking movies with some religious themes, but for anyone who likes to think and be amazed. It is an attempt to bring to life the famous 1564 painting by Pietr Breugel in which Jesus has collapsed under the weight of carrying the cross, and the event is witnessed by a miller from atop his mill and God who looks down from heaven. A masterpiece from writer-director Lech Majewski. The New York Times said about it, “Lush and hypnotic! An inspiring, alluring meditation about imagery and storytelling.” On DVD from Kino Lorber.

Max’s rating: Two paws up and lots of “Woo! Woos!”

MOZART’S SISTER

You may not have heard of this new French film, but I also highly recommend it. While child protégée Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his parents and teenage sister Maria Anna, five years older than he, traveled by coach to royal courts across Europe in 1763, his compositions astounded royalty. But his also very talented sister was forced to just accompany him on the harpsichord or violin and forbidden by their father to write music of her own because women then were not considered composers of serious music. A special treat for classical music lovers, the film has been called “Gorgeous!” and “Luminous,” and I agree, from the costumes and sets as well as the glorious music and performance by Marie Feret as Mozart’s sister. Teenage girls should love it. On DVD and Blu-ray from Music Box Films Home Entertainment.

Max’s rating: Two paws up and lots of “Woo! Woos!”

Also recommended this month:

FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD

A new Masterpiece Classic telling of the classic novel by Thomas Hardy.Paloma Baeze stars as the beautiful and fiercely independent heroine who loves not wisely nor well. Nathaniel Parker, Jonathan Firth, and Nigel Terry also star in this strong romantic drama seen on PBS Television and now on DVD from PBS Distribution.

THE INDIAN DOCTOR

I’ve enjoyed several movies set in India during the years of British rule, so this is an interesting change. A Delhi-graduate doctor goes to work in a Welsh coal mining village in 1963 and everyone experiences culture shock. It’s from the BBC Television series, on two DVDs from BFS Entertainment.

LAND GIRLS, Series 3

Further adventures of three young British women working on a farm in the Women’s Land Army in rural England during World War II. In this series, Lady Ellen turns Hoxley manor into a hospital after a local military hospital is bombed (shades of DOWNTON ABBEY). On two DVDs from BBC Television and BFS Entertainment.

ZATT

The 1970s science fiction-horror cult classic has been restored in high definition in a special DVD/Blu-ray combo pack from Film Chest on the CULTRA and HD Cinema Classics labels. It’s about a mad scientist who believes he can transform humans into fish. He tries this by using himself as the guinea pig, becoming part man, part walking catfish. Okay, pretty far out, I agree, but it was fun to watch.

BEHIND YOUR EYES

A young couple embark on a weekend visit to meet the husband’s parents. Along the way, things start taking a bad turn when they are kidnapped and held hostage. As they are held captive, secrets from the past unfold. It’s not for children or teenagers, but adults who like thrillers may enjoy it. On DVD from Osiris Entertainment.

Golden Oldies on Blu-ray

Two classics released this month, restored in the amazing sharpness of Blu-ray:

WINGS (1927), the first movie to win an Academy Award for best picture, is beautifully restored. Richard Alen and Charles “Buddy” Rogers star as best friends, pilots during World War I, and silent film queen Clara Bow adds love interest. The aerial scenes are still among the best ever filmed. Though silent in dialogue, two soundtracks are on the disc, an organ and a full orchestra. From Paramount.

CASABLANCA

Of course you remember this, a kiss between Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Berman is still a kiss and a sigh will always be a sigh. Now the beloved movie is available in a special edition 3-disc 70^th anniversary boxed set from Warner Home Video. It’s in both Blu-ray and DVD with extras including more than 14 hours with three documentaries (two of them new), a 60-page production art book, and a set of four drink coasters from “Rick’s Café Americain.” What, no dog bowl?

Documentaries

PEOPLE ARE FUNNY

My master said he laughed a lot listening to the 1940s radio game show and then the television version hosted by Art Linkletter, so he was happy to introduce me to the show on DVD from Film Chest. There are 16 full-length episodes of the digitally-restored show from season one. Lots of laughs for the whole family. My master said that when Linkletter was 80 years old, an interviewer asked him what was the greatest change he had noticed in the past years, and he said, “The lack of civility.” And that was twenty years ago! Like, you know, if you will.

SOLARTAXI

This is about an 18-month trip Louis Palmer made around the world in a home-made car powered only by the sun. Along the way, he met princes, movie stars, politicians, scientists, and ordinary people, showing them that solar energy is functional, efficient, and most importantly, reliable. If only our government would get behind this and other forms of energy and get us off our dependence on gas and oil, especially from the Middle East and its endless wars.

FRONTLINE: NUCLEAR AFTERSHOCKS

A series correspondent, Miles O’Brien, takes us to three continents to explore the debate about the safety of nuclear power and the option for alternative energy sources. Also covered are questions about whether a disaster could hit the U.S. like the one at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex.

NATURE: RACCOON NATION

Dogs are not the subject of this documentary about how smart, adaptable, and omnivorous city-dwelling raccoons are, but we could have been. Raccoons’ busy little hands open doors, get into attics, and raid even secured garbage cans to find food and shelter, and are especially fond of big cities as raccoon populations grow in cities such as New York, Chicago, and Toronto. The DVD of the show seen on PBS Television is from PBS Distribution.

NOVA: SEPARATING TWINS

Twin girls, born joined at the head, were abandoned shortly after their birth at an orphanage in Bangladesh. They were taken to Australia by an aid worker, and after two years battling for life joined together, they underwent a series of operations to allow them to live separate lives. This incredible story was seen on PBS Television and now is a NOVA DVD from PBS Distribution.

NATURE: FORTESS OF THE BEARS

This documentary is about the largest group of grizzly bears in the world, at Alaska’s Admiralty Island. About 1,800 grizzlies live in an area half the size of Yellowstone National Park, living on salmon in the area’s streams. Their habitat depends on an uncertain balance between fish, trees, and the weather. This fascinating nature documentary runs one hour and is on both DBD and Blu-ray from PBS Distribution.

AMERICA GOES TO WAR

This is an excellent report on the home front as Americans lived during World War II. The 10-episode series hosted by journalist Eric Sevareid on PBS Television is on DVD from PBS Distribution. Wartime newsreels are interwoven with narrative to reveal the trials and triumphs of this era in American history. My master recalled being a boy in those difficult and dangerous times and said he could have gotten through them better if he had had a dog. A dog like me, I am sure.

ROUGH CUT, Season 2

More new episodes of the popular PBS Television series on how to be a home-grown master woodworker, hosted by likable fTommy MacDonald. Projects include a dressing mirror, coat rack, shaded clock, and gardener’s potting station. Diagram booklet and instructions are included. The DVD is from PBS Distribution.

ANGELIQUE KIDJO AND FRIENDS: SPIRIT RISING

“Africa’s premier diva,” the Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter stars in a live concert paying tribute to her home town of Benin in this musical special seen on PBS Television. Guest stars include Josh Groban, Dianne Reeves, Branford Marsalis and Ezra Kidjo,singing her songs and familiar classics from rock and roll, reggae, Broadway and other sources. The DVD is from PBS Distribution.

SLAVERY BY ANOTHER NAME

Slavery in America ended when Abraham Lincoln signed The Emancipation Proclamation in 1865, right? Wrong. This 90-minute documentary explores the little-known history of another form of slavery in the United States – forced labor. Narrated by actor Laurence Fishburne, the report is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Douglas A. Blackmon, a senior writer for the Wall Street Journal. Thousands of African-Americans, often guilty of no crime, were arrested, compelled to work without pay, repeatedly bought and sold, and forced to obey their owners. Tolerated by both the North and South, forced labor by African-Americans lasted well into the 20^th century. Seen on PBS Television and an official selection by the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, the DVD is from PBS Distribution. A strong dose of history that everyone should see.

NOVA: THE MYSTERY OF A MASTERPIECE

Art detectives study stolen and fake art as methodically as crime detectives, in this documentary about a painting of a young woman in Renaissance dress that made world news in October 2009. Bought by an art collector two years earlier for about $20,000, was it an undiscovered masterwork by Leonardo da Vinci worth more than $100 million? Art forensic experts sought to answer the question in this documentary seen on PBS Television and now on DVD from PBS Distribution.

NATURE: KANGAROO MOB

Over the past fifty years, kangaroos have moved out of the bush and been inhabiting Canberra, Australia’s capital city. Their population has exploded from a few hundred to tens of thousands today, forced from drought-stricken hills and hungry, they find food in city and suburban parks and neighborhoods. Can the country’s icon animal be controlled or relocated? Another fascinating documentary seen on PBS Television and now on DVD from PBS Distribution.

NOVA: LINCOLN’S SECRET WEAPON

It was President Abraham Lincoln’s Civil War Ironclad The U.S.S. Monitor, an armored combat vessel that opened a new chapter in naval warfare. The documentary re-enacts the March 1862 battle between the North’s Monitor and the South’s well-armored Merrimack that changed the course of the war. Now the Monitor rests in the nation’s first marine sanctuary, where a team of Navy divers attempt to recover priceless artifacts. An excellent historical documentary seen on PBS Television and now on DVD from PBS Distribution.

THE BEST OF BLUEGRASS UNDERGROUND

Lovers of grass-roots American music will treasure this DVD of a series of live concerts below ground in the Volcano Room of Tennessee’s 32-mile long Cumberland Caverns. The music ranges beyond traditional Bluegrass to serve as a showcase for acts in the genres of Neo-folk, Gospel, and Blue/Jazz/Jamgrass. The DVD is from PBS Distribution.

THE TRAGEDY OF BATAAN

A documentary about the fall of the Philippines and the Bataan Death March in the early months of World War II. Actor Alec Baldwin narrates the documentary which includes first-person accounts by U.S. military and Filipino survivors and never-before-seen Japanese propaganda film footage. As seen on PBS Television, the DVD is from PBS Distribution.

MISTER ROGERS AND ME

During his years as host of one of children’s television’s favorite series, Mister Rogers summered in a modest house on a quiet corner of Nantucket Island. MTV television producer Benjamin Wagner’s mother rented the cottage next door. After Mr. Rogers’ death in 2003, Wagner and his brother, Christofer, spoke with others who knew him and the result is this report about his values which encouraged him and everyone to lead “deeper, simpler” lives. A wonderful documentary seen on PBS Television and on DVD from PBS Distribution.

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: BILLY THE KID

The wonderful PBS Television series focuses on the life and legend of the young man who, orphaned at the age of 15 and alone in a tough mining town, became the most notorious outlaw of the Old West. My master and I have seen just about every movie ever made about Billy the Kid, some of them classics, but this apparently tells the true story of his rise and fall. An especially exciting entry in the American Experience series seen on PBS Television and on DVD from PBS Distribution.

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO

The world’s first globe-trotter traveled from Venice to China and back and then wrote about his adventures which were largely not believed. Two modern-day adventurers, Denis Belliveau, a wedding photographer, and Francis O’Donnell, an artist and former Marine, spent two recent years retracing Polo’s route to film this wonderful documentary in an attempt to see what Polo saw and learned what he must have felt on his journey. As seen on PBS Television, now on DVD from PBS Distribution.

SURVING HITLER: A LOVE STORY

This true-life documentary follows two young lovers whose lives are changed forever during Nazi control of Germany in the 1940s. The teenage girl, Jutta, discovers she is Jewish, then joins the German resistance and meets Helmuth, an injured German soldier. They fall in love and become co-conspirators in a daring plot to assassinate Hitler. In old 8mm films taken by Helmut, Jutta tells their story for what you will be glad to learn is a happy ending. First aired on BBC Television, the documentary is from Osiris Entertainment.

RECONCILIATION: MANDELA’S MIRACLE

A fascinating profile of Nelson Mandela, South African leader who saved his country from bloody civil war and ended the system of apartheid (separation of white and black people) not through a spirit of revenge for injustice but of reconciliation. His message and example led to a peaceful transition from apartheid to a democracy. The documentary examines the political, moral, and spiritual legacy of Mandela. First seen on PBS Television, the DVD is from PBS Distribution.

For children and puppies:

PUSS IN BOOTS

Young children ought to enjoy this family-friendly tale based on the swashbuckling, boot-wearing cat from the fable by Charles Perrault. In this adventure, Puss (voiced by Antonio Banderas) is a fugitive trying to clear his name. This takes him to trying to steal some magic beans from Jack and Jill and helping Humpty Dumpty so he, Puss, can get to a Giant’s castle in the sky and steal the goose that lays golden eggs. Lots of nonsense, but fun for kids. On DVD, Blu-ray and in 3-D from Dreamworks.

WORDGIRL: THE RISE OF MISS POWER

Nobody likes being bullied – not even dogs. This new Emmy award-winning animated series from Scholastic Media, a division of Scholastic, the children’s publishing and education company, follows the life and adventures of intergalactic WordGirl as she fights crime and adds to kids’ vocabularies. In this episode, with guest star Jane Lynch, WordGirl tackles the topic of bullying in a 70-minute DVD that was first seen last month on PBS KIDS GO! television. A special birthday party for WordGirl is also on the disc, along with an interactive game, video shorts, and coloring pages, from PBS International. The series is exciting and fun for kids.

ARTHUR’S TRAVEL ADVENTURES

Kids’ favorite cartoon aardvark learns about the ocean, a farm, and more in his travels that help kids to love to read and learn social skills.A star of PBS Kids, Arthur’s adventures are on DVD from PBS Distribution.

PEEP AND THE BIG WIDE WORLD

Peep, a newly-hatched chicken, and his friends Chirp, a robin, and Quack, of course a duck, star in two new adventures, BRINGING SPRING and FINDERS KEEPERS. Kids love these characters on PBS Television and will enjoy seeing them on this DVD from PBS Distribution.

See you again next month at the same fire hydrant.

Max’s Best DVD and Blu-ray Picks – February, 2012

Hi, I’m Max. best friend of Walt Oleksy (waltmax@comcast.net), and I review new DVD and Blu-ray releases each month. We don’t care for most of the new stuff out of Hollywood. We’ve seen more than enough thrillers, car chases, men and women in their birthday suits, and comedies the critics say are “hilarious” but which just aren’t funny unless you’re two years old (I’m nine and my master admits to being “over thirty-nine.” We don’t watch anything with vampires in it, except the original “Dracula.” We like movies that tell a good story and maybe we learn something from it. We figure you can read about the new so-called blockbuster films everywhere else, so we look for flicks that are worth seeing but get little publicity and are not seen in most mall theaters.

Everyone’s so busy these days, I keep my recommendations brief. Here goes for what I think you’ll like on DVD this month.

Best Pick of the Month

DOWNTON ABBEY, SEASON 2

No question about it, the second series is as good a bone to chew on or even better than the first, which knocked a lot of socks off for its wit, drama, intelligence, and just plain great entertainment. Maggie Smith, Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern, Dan Stevens, Michelle Dockery, Brendan Coyle, and the rest of the terrific cast returns with some new members including longtime favorites of mine, Ian Glen and David Robb, to keep the plot pot boiling over as the “upstairs, downstairs” families get deeper into World War I and domestic action centering around the decline of the system of class and privilege in England. My master and I have been watching it Sunday nights on PBS Television’s Masterpiece series, and he just got it all on Blu-ray which is a special treat for sharpness. Extras on both the Blu-ray and DVD formats include short documentaries about the fashions and uniforms of the war period, Romance in the Time of War, about romantic relationships in the mansion, and how it was converted into a hospital during wartime. Season One won an Emmy as best television miniseries and the new season could well win another. It’s available now on both Blu-ray and DVD, nine hours of great entertainment on three discs from PBS Distribution. My tail is still wagging after watching it all and I can hardly wait for the third season which is already in production. There’s also a lot of cliff-hanging romance in the series, so since February is the month of Valentine’s Day, both season one and two on Blu-ray or DVD would make a great gift for your loved one. My master and I find that watching it on disc helps us to catch stuff we missed watching it on television. Will Lady Mary win back Matthew? Will Bates and the ladies’ maid escape the claws of his scheming wife? Will the Daisy the kitchen helper continue to encourage the soldier? DOWNTON ABBEY always keeps us guessing.

Max’s rating: Two paws up and lots of “woo! Woo’s!”

Also recommended this month:

BEGINNERS

A father (Christopher Plummer) comes out to his son (Ewan McGregor) before dying and we are taken on a very personal journey into their distant relationship. It’s a strong movie from writer-director Mike Mills that is well worth watching, not only for the story but the two lead performances (Plummer was nominated for a supporting actor Academy Award and is my favorite to win). Often stealing scenes is a Jack Russell terrier called Arthur in the film. I’d like to play with him, but since he lives in California and I near Chicago, that’s unlikely. So I’ll keep playing with Lucie, a chocolate brown Lab next door, and my new playmate, Lola, a Golden Retriever up the block. Sorry for digressing. The movie is on DVD and Blu-ray from Focus Features.

WATER FOR ELEPHANTS

This is an old-fashioned romantic melodrama going back to the 1930s that my master and I enjoyed this month. Robert Patterson took his teeth out of girls’ necks as a vampire long enough to star in this film as a would-be veterinarian who works at a traveling circus. He falls in love with the wife (Reese Witherspoon) of the circus owner (Christopher Waltz) while tending to the health needs of an abused elephant. Waltz, last year’s winner of an Oscar for best supporting actor in the war film INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, steals this show as a slightly off-kilter and very jealous husband. Talk about a temper! My only objection to the film is some violence against animals and people. The DVD and Blu-ray is from Fox Searchlight.

ZATT

This horror film was so bad it is now considered good, (sometimes this happens with dogs, too), a cult classic that took ten years to be released, in 1982. Now it was been restored and in high definition in a special DVD/Blu-ray combo pack from Film Chest on the Cultra and HD Cinema Classics labels. The story is about a man who drinks some bad water and turns into a human-sized walking catfish. He goes after anyone who laughs at him and also tries to get some women to drink the same bad water so he has a female catfish companion. Also called BLOOD WATERS OF DOTOR Z, it is not for everyone (not everyone likes fish, either), but if you’re looking for some midwinter madness, this could more than fill your plate.

THE JAZZ SINGER

You may never have known (I didn’t), that comedian Jerry Lewis also starred in a version of the 1927 classic Al Jolson film that first brought sound to the movies. In celebration of Lewis’s 80 years in show business, this rare television broadcast of Lewis as the cantor’s son who prefers to sing pop songs, is now on DVD from Inception Media Group. It was originally a 1959 special for NBC’s Lincoln-Mercury Startime television series and was never rebroadcast or distributed in any home format since it was first aired.

Documentaries

EYES ON THE PRIZE

The 25^th anniversary of the definitive Emmy and Peabody Award-winning documentary report on the civil rights movement, now on DVD from PBS Distribution. The 6-hour special first aired on PBS Television in 1987 and was called by the New York Times “the most ambitious documentary undertaken by black filmmakers and one of the largest television series ever undertaken,” while the Chicago Sun-Times said “This is not just superb television, it is a journey into the soul of America,” as it recounts the fight to end decades of discrimination and segregation. My master and I watched the three disc DVD set just after seeing the new film, THE HELP, on DVD, and it added greatly to our understanding of the civil rights movement. And if you haven’t seen THE HELP yes, I highly recommend it as one of the best movies of last year and a strong contender for the best picture Academy Award and its star, Viola Davis, who could be named best actress.

DEFENDING THE REALM

Honoring the 70^th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, this documentary recounts the summer of 1940 when Royal Air Force pilots saved London during intensive bombing by the Nazis before America entered World War II. It was the heroic action of the RAF that summer that Prime Minister Winston Churchill said “Never in the field of human conflict have so many owed so much to so few.” The exciting documentary is on DVD from ITV Studios Ltd. and BFS Entertainment. Must-viewing for most of us.

FRONTLINE: “A PERFECT TERRORIST,” and “DIGITAL MEDIA: NEW LEARNERS OF THE 21ST CENTURY”

Two excellent documentaries from PBS Television. The terrorist documentary from the award-winning Frontline series reports on the mysterious events that led David Coleman Headley to escalate from heroin dealer and U.S. government informant to the master plotter of the 2008 attack on Mumbai, India. The attack by a Pakistani militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, the most spectacular terror attack since 9/11, left 166 dead. The other documentary tells how digital media such as smart phones and other hand-held communications gadgets for playing electronic games, social networking, texting, and blogging, is impacting the lives of American children and influencing how they learn. The hour-long documentary attempts to answer questions of parents and educators about what young people are doing with these technologies as a social and educational revolution. Both documentaries are on DVD from PBS Distribution.

NOVA: Bombing Hitler’s Dams and 3D Spies of World War II, Destroying Hitler’s Top-Secret Rockets

The award-winning PBS Television series focuses on how experts have re-created the heroic World War II events during 1943 in which British pilots bombed Nazi dams, the most audacious raids in history. The bombs destroyed two huge dams in Germany’s industrial heartland. The two-hour documentary is on DVD from PBS Distribution. The spy documentary tells how British pilots flew over Germany early in World War II to take 3-dimensional photographs of sites which housed Hitler’s top secret rocket facilities. Air photo intelligence teams in a country house near London then studied the millions of photos using 3D graphics to enable Allied pilots to bomb Hitler’s hidden rocket sites. The raids were crucial setbacks to the German rocket program and helped ensure the success of the D-Day landings and bring about an earlier end to the war. The hour-long DVD is also from PBS Distribution.

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: Custer’s Last Stand and Underground Railroad: The William Still Story

Two more excellent documentaries in the award-winning PBS Television series. In the Custer documentary, historians report on the June 26, 1876 massacre of U.S. Cavalry Gen. George Armstrong Custer and his men at the Little Big Horn River in Montana Territory by a large army of Lakota and Cheyenne warriors. Researchers present both sides of the unsolved historical argument of whether Custer was a hero or a glory-bent military leader who intentionally sacrificed his life and those of his troops. The two-hour documentary, as exciting as any movie, is from PBS Distribution. The other documentary profiles the heroic efforts of William Still, a free-born African-American Pennsylvania abolitionist and historian, who helped slaves cross the U.S. border into Canada via the so-called Underground Railroad. It also explores the major role Canada played in the secret missions in which tens of thousands of men, women, and children, were delivered from bondage to freedom before and during the American Civil War. The hour-long DVD is also from PBS Distribution.

FRONTLINE: THE INTERRUPTERS

This exciting documentary reports on how three people known as “violence interrupters” bravely worked to protect their Chicago neighborhoods from violence they once had used themselves. The New York Times says the film “has put a face to a raging epidemic and an unforgivable American tragedy” – the violence in our cities. The three Chicagoans are shown attempting to intervene in situations in which two brothers threaten to shoot each other, an angry teenage girl just home from prison, and a young man headed toward an act of dangerous revenge. The award-winning two-hour documentary from producer-director Steve James (HOOP DREAMS) and author-producer Alex Kotlowitz (THERE ARE NO CHILDREN) is on both DVD and Blu-Ray from PBS Distribution.

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: William Jefferson Clinton

Continuing its fascinating series of in-depth biographies of famous Americans including its former Presidents, this documentary focuses on former President Clinton. From draft-dodger to admired President whose administration was one of prosperity and a balanced budget, with a scandal along the way, we learn more about the man and official than we may well never have known. The portrait is of one of the most successful politicians in modern American history and one of the most complex and conflicted public figures. The three-hour DVD is on both DVD and Blu-ray from PBS Distribution.

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: The Amish

The PBS Television series focuses on a year in contemporary Amish faith and life of the insular religious community that holds strict to their 300-yar-old traditions of living modestly and old-fashioned in modern America. The two-hour documentary, the first to deeply penetrate and explore is values and where the Amish may be headed, is on both DVD and Blu-ray from PBS Distribution.

FRONTLINE: The Long Walk of Nelson Mandela

An intimate portrait of one of the 20^th Century’s greatest leaders. The documentary probes into the South African leader’s character, leadership, and life’s method through interviews with friends and political allies and adversaries. Also interviewed are fellow prisoners and jailors where he spent 18 of his 27 prison years on Robben island off Cape Town, Africa, transforming from radical into mature leader and statesman. The two-hour documentary is on DVD from PBS Distribution.

ROUGH CUT – Woodworking with Tommy Mac: Season 2

Four new episodes of how to build furniture from the series that was nominated for a daytime Emmy its first season. Thirteen new projects range from a drop-leaf Shaker-like table to a turned floor lamp and veneered coffee table, all shown in half-hour how-to episodes by young woodworking expert Tommy MacDonald. Ladies, if you’re not into woodworking, you might just enjoy looking at Tommy, a blond All-American Boy from Boston who looks great in a black t-shirt. Each project is on a separate DVD which includes fold-out instructions. From PBS Distribution.

THAT SHOW WITH JOAN RIVERS, Vols. 1-3

Long before the show she hosted in the early 1990s, the comedienne’s first talk show was televised from 1968-69 on NBC. Guest stars included Johnny Carson, Carol Lawrence, Jerry Louis, Dick Cavett, and many more. Her many fans can how see this top-rated show on DVD from Film Chest.

LAWRENCE WELK

The popular band leader and accordionist, and his bouncy music and bubble machine are back in a DVD, Lawrence Welk Classic Episodes, Vo. 1-4, from Film Chest. His show, first broadcast in 1951, and which continued for 27 years, remains the longest-running American musical/variety show on television. Featured in this four-disc set are the fifth anniversary show, the “Gypsy” show, a salute to America’s military veterans, and a Mardi Gras celebration.

That’s all for February. See you here again at the same fire hydrant next month.