Max's August Best Picks

Max’s Best DVD and Blu-Ray Picks – August, 2011

I too have been living in the “dog days” of summer, so I know how you folks have been suffering from one of the hottest, wettest, and wildest summers in anyone’s memory.

My master and I have found some relief watching classic movies on TV and from his DVD collection, and also some new movies and documentaries we recommend this month. Two of the movies are from the British and one, our best pic of the month, is from France.

MY BEST FRIEND

One of the top French stars, Daniel Auteuil, plays an antique collector in Paris who seems to have it all, except nobody likes him. In fact, his business partner, played by Julie Gatet, bets him he can’t produce even one friend in ten days or forfeit an expensive Greek vase he just bought. Desperate to find even one person to stand in as his friend, he seeks help from a taxi driver who is a walking encyclopedia of trivia facts. Dany Boon plays the taxi driver, and he and Auteuil play against each other so well, they make a great new comedy team. It’s a heartwarming comedy from French director Patrice Leconte (The Man on the Train and Intimate Stranger). The movie is a delightful surprise as we follow Auteuil as he learns the meaning of friendship. Why can’t Hollywood make movies as clever, intelligent, and funny as this gem? On DVD in French with English subtitles from IFC (Independent Film Channel).

JOE MADDISON’S WAR

Robson Green (of the British TV series Wire in the Blood) and Derek Jacobi (of I, Claudius), two of my favorite British actors, team up to star in this drama that takes viewers back to Newcastle, England, in 1940. Kevin Whately (of the Inspector Morse British TV series) plays Joe Maddison, a shipyard worker too old to fight in World War II. He and his friend played by Green, decide to help the war effort by joining the Home Guard, headed by the local pharmacist, played by Jacobi. Their lives take a major turn in an unexpected journey of self-discovery. An off-beat story of World War II that my master and I both enjoyed very much. The DVD is from BFS Entertainment.

THE STREET

Season Two of the British award-winning television series further explores the lives of everyday working-class people on a street in Manchester, northern England. Actors including David Thewlis, Timothy Spall, and Gina McKee portray people there today who struggle with moral choices involving poverty, drug and alcohol addiction, sexuality, unemployment, and crime. It’s a Brit version of reality television worth looking into, from BFS Entertainment.

Documentaries

WIKISECRETS

A hard-hitting documentary about the biggest intelligence breach in American history. You know it from the news… the WikiLeaks website sent more than a half-million classified documents over the Internet in the spring of 2010,and the event rocked the world. This documentary focuses on two of the men behind the leaks, Julian Assange, the Internet activist and hacker who published the documents, and Bradley E. Manning, a U.S. Army intelligence analyst who is charged with handling the documents over to WikiLeaks. Both men maintain the leaks were made in the hope of inciting “worldwide discussion, debate, and reforms.” This is very exciting stuff from PBS Television’s Frontline series, the DVD from PBS Television.

BREAKING NEWS BREAKING DOWN

A fascinating documentary exploring the work of two journalists who covered two of the biggest disaster stories of the century… the 9/11 terrorism and Hurricane Katrina. It’s an exciting personal report on how the disasters impacted their lives as journalists and citizens and also how the events impacted the lives of others. Mike Walter tells about 9/11 and John McCusker about Katrina. My master, a former Chicago Tribune reporter, says covering major events can be harrowing for the journalist, and this documentary proves it. The award-winning 40-minute documentary is from PBS Distribution.

AN AMERICAN FAMILY: ANNIVERSARY EDITION

The most controversial and talked-about television program of its time, “An American Family” knocked socks off in 1973. Filmmakers Alan and Susan Raymond took viewers into the homes and lives of a perhaps typical American family, a couple with five children, and recorded how they lived over a periods of seven months. Events included the wife asking for a separation from her husband, and the Bohemia New York life of their gay son. The twelve episodes are now on DVD in a 40^th-year anniversary special from PBS Distribution. Talk about real life television, it doesn’t come much more alive than this two-hour special.

STARGAZING

From the PBS Television Explorer Collection and NOVA, a close look at 400 years of the telescope including its past, present, and future. Both serious and amateur star-gazers will be in cosmic heaven with this exciting documentary. My master and I especially liked the segment where NASA sent a shuttle crew on a dangerous spring 2009 mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope for the last time that required the most intensive NASA spacewalk ever.

A five-hour, five DVD set from PBS Distribution.

MARS: THE RED PLANET

Another documentary in the NOVA-PBS Explorer Collection, this one takes a close look at Mars, one of the planets closest to Earth. Is there life on the red planet? These and other questions are probed in the four-hour, four disc set is from PBS Distribution.

LOOPDIVER: THE JOURNEY OF A DANCE

The award-winning international dance company, Troika Ranch, is seen creating its next work, called Loopdiver.

It’s an avant-garde, multimedia dance work interweaving looped choreography, music, interactive visuals, and lighting that should appeal to music and dance lovers.

It’s only a half-hour long, but packs a lot of entertainment in a short documentary, from PBS Distribution.

SONGS OF THE 70’S

Marvin Hamlisch hosts a musical love letter DVD to the pop music of the 1970s in a special called THE WAY WE WERE, which of course you know was the title of his hit song from the movie with Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford. The DVD contains performances by stars of that decade singing the songs they made famous, including BJ Thomas, Three Dog Night, Debby Boone, Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr., Ray Stevens, Freda Payne, Guy and Ralna, Bobby Goldsboro, Billy Joe Royal, Peaches and Herb, Jonathan Edwards. Of course I have a special fondness for Three Dog Night. It’s the first time they all appeared on stage together, and it’s a real hoot. Or should I say howl. From PBS Distribution, available both on DVD and CD.

BRITISH TRAVEL: WAINWRIGHT WALKS, THE LAKE DISTRICT

Julie Bradbury, a novice mountain-climber, takes us on ten of the most popular walking routes taken years earlier by the late travel guide and author Alfred Wainwright in northwest England’s Lake District rich in mountains and lakes. A very special travel adventure in a 3-DVD set from BFS Entertainment.

Stay cool, and see you at the same fire hydrant next month.

Max’s Picks July 2011

My best picks of the month:

OF GODS AND MEN

This is another excellent film you may not know about. It is based upon the true story of the faith and courage of a brotherhood of eight French Christian monks in a mountain monastery in North Africa whose lives were endangered when a crew of foreign workers was massacred by Islamic extremists during the Algerian Civil War of the 1990s. They had been living harmoniously with their Muslim brothers, but when the insurgents arrive they are conflicted as to whether to flee or stay and try to fulfill their spiritual mission and also continue to provide medical care and other services for the Muslims. It won the Grand Prix at the 1010 Cannes Film Festival and was named the Best Foreign Language Film from the National Board of Review. Richard Corliss, Time Magazine critic, called it “A luminous tale of faith and heroism,” and Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal said it is “Nothing less than sublime.” The film stars Lambert Wilson and Michael Lonsdale, available on a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack from Sony Pictures Home International. Extras include how the film was made.

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

WINTER IN WARTIME

In a wintry village in Nazi-occupied Holland in 1945, a thirteen-year-old girl becomes involved in the resistance movement when she aids a British paratrooper. This leads to danger and also worries about who she can trust in the village. It’s excellent World War II drama based on the book by Jan Terlouw, produced by Isabella Films, with a stand-out performance by Martijn Lakemeier. In a Blu-ray and DVD combo pack from Sony Pictures Entertainment. Extras include a featurette on the making of the movie.

We agree with the Hollywood Reporter’s review: “Superb filmmaking, beautifully crafted,” and Rex Reed in the New York Observer who said “Haunting, a powerful and touching film.” Treat yourself and see it.

Also recommended:

A WOMAN’S GUIDE TO ADULTERY

Now that I have your attention with that title, I’ll explain that it’s a new British movie. Theresa Russell plays a university photography student who falls for her lecturer, played by that always watchable Sean Bean.

Based on the novel by Carol Cleweon, it also stars Adrian Dunbar and Amanda Donahue, from Hartswood Productions for Carlton Television. Seen on BBC Television, it’s sexual but not X-rated material and adults will probably enjoy it.

The DVD is from BFS Entertainment.

JUST WILLIAM

My master and I really enjoyed this family film about an 11-year-old boy who tries but can’t seem to stop causing mischief. Daniel Roche is perfectly cast as William, leader of a bunch of pals called “The Outlaws” in England in the 1950s. Based on humorous stories by Richmal Crompton, it’s excellent family entertainment from BBC Television and BFS Entertainment.

LAND GIRLS, SERIES 2

Further adventures of British women on the rural homefront during World War II. Sophie Ward and Liam Garrigan star in this delightful second series from the popular BBC Television shows. The the-two DVD set is from BFS Entertainment.

THE STREET, SEASON 2

The second installment of the award-winning British television drama series recalls life among working-class families on a street in Manchester, northern England.

Stories involve crime, poverty, drug and alcohol addiction, unemployment, to keep viewers engaged. Seen on BBC Television, the DVD is from BFS Entertainment.

A GOLDEN OLDIE: CENTENNIAL

You may have missed the DVD set of CENTENNIAL, a fantastic television mini-series seen on NBC in late 1978 and early 1979. The DVDs came out in 2008 from Warner Bros. Television and Turner Program Services. It’s an engrossing saga of history of the American West from the mid 18^th century in what became Colorado to the 1970s, based on the novel by James A. Michener. A galaxy of stars mainly from television include Robert Conrad, Richard Chamberlain, Gregory Harrison, Lois Nettleton, Lynn Redgrave, David Janssen, and many others, with a truly memorable performance by Barbara Carrera as an Indian woman whose life touched many of the people in the story. It’s long, at 26 hours, in 12 episodes on 6 DVDs, but well worth spending some evenings with. It’s truly an epic and we learn a lot about pioneer-Indian relations, among other aspects of America’s growth from then to now. It’s something the entire family could watch together and discuss.

GOLDEN OLDIE ON BLU-RAY

Not really a classic but very entertaining, NIGHT FLIGHT, this 1933 “thriller” stars some of the top actors at MGM that year: John and Lionel Barrymore, Helen Hayes, Clark Gable, Myrna Loy, Robert Montgomery in a drama about the mail going through at a South American airline, bad weather or not. Although it has its share of drama and adventure, it finds its place in movie history mainly because it was the first time a film’s producer put his name on the movie. Movie historian Jay Robert Nash says David O. Selznick took the honor, after its real producer, Irving Thalberg, declined it (as was to be his habit), whether out of modesty or he didn’t think that much of the movie, we’ll never know. It’s worth seeing, but there are other movies in the MGM archives worth the Blu-ray treatment. One of them is THE SEARCH with Montgomery Clift trying to help a war orphan find his mother in Berlin after World War II. An ignored true classic still only available on VHS tape.

Documentaries

NATURE: BEARS OF THE LAST FRONTIER

Bear ecologist Chris Morgan takes us on a 3,000-mile motorcycle journey deep into the wilds of Alaska to document the lives of three bear species –- black bears, grizzly bears, and the mighty polar bear. All are endangered because of human encroachment into their habitats and also from global warming. As seen on Public Television, it’s a wonderful three-hour adventure on DVD but even better on even sharper Blu-ray in this combo set of two DVDs from PBS Distribution.

FRONTLINE: KILL/CAPTURE

The U.S. military strike targeting Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters that killed Osama Bin Laden was one of America’s best kept secrets. After a six-month investigation, the PBS series Frontline gives a full report on the mission.

Gen. David Petraeus and his senior commanders are interviewed about the raid and answer the question of whether such raids will help end the war in Afghanistan.

From PBS Distribution.

CHRONICLE OF THE THIRD REICH

Many movies aren’t as engrossing as this four-hour documentary about Nazi Germany’s Third Reich which began in 1933 and ended in 1945 with the end of World War II in Europe. It marks the 65^th anniversary of the downfall of Adolf Hitler’s regime, using some previously unpublished films. Historian Michael Kloft, aided by three other historians, describes the politics, day-to-day life, the war years, and the crimes of the Nazi state. This is important history to know about and remember, from Spiegel TV and PBS Television Distribution.

IRENE SENDLER, IN THE NAME OF THEIR MOTHERS

A compelling documentary about the Polish social worker who helped rescue more than 2,500 Jewish children from the Nazi Gestapo during World War II. She did it by forging identification papers and placing the children in Catholic safe houses and orphanages in Warsaw and the Polish countryside. Ms. Sendler was interviewed about the experience when she was in her 90s, but she still vividly recalled them, including her brush with death in a Gestapo prison and harassment in post-war Communist Poland. Fascinating, exciting, from 2B Productions, KQED Presents, and PBS Television Distribution.

REMOTE CONTROL WAR

A revealing documentary on how ongoing campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan comprise the world’s first robotic war. When the U.S. invaded Iraq ten years ago there were almost no remote control weapons, but that has since grown to 7,000 robots in the air and 12,000 on the ground. Some 43 other countries also now are using robots in combat. This documentary surveys the present and future of robotic warfare, from today’s CIA drone strikes to the next generation of armed autonomous robot swarms, killer robots that are about to change our world. From SaskFilm,

Canadian Television, and PBS Television Distribution.

LETHAL LANDSCAPES

Soldier artists at the Defense Information School at Fort Meade, Maryland, are trained to paint, sketch, and draw the intense moments of battle. This documentary introduces several combat artists who tell their experiences in conflicts from Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan, and how they illustrated them. Fascinating first-hand reports on the battlefronts today, from MPT and PBS Television Distribution.

BAD BLOOD: a Cautionary Tale

A report on how a miracle treatment for hemophilia in the 1960s became instead an agent of death. Derived from human blood, the treatment transformed the often fatal genetic disease into a treatable chronic condition. But using it infected 10,000 with HIV and 15,000 with hepatitis before it was pulled from the market in 1954, having caused the worst medical disaster in U.S. history. The documentary takes a look at six families impacted by the tragedy, and the doctors, nurses, and scientists who cared for them.

From PBS Television Distribution.

OUTBACK PELICANS

Surprisingly, the Australian Outback, the driest place on the driest continent on the planet, has some water birds.

Once every ten years or so, rains flood into dried-up river beds and create an oasis in the scorching heart of the desert where 100,000 pelicans arrive for a fantastic gathering, coming from coasts and harbors, and give birth during the short wet spell. A fascinating Nature documentary from Cabnon, WNET Org. 13, and PBS Television Distribution. In both DVD and Blu-ray formats, but see it in crystal-sharp Blu-ray if you can.

SURVIVORS OF THE FIRESTORM

Bush fires that ravaged the state of Victoria in Australia in February 2009 incinerated more than a million acres of land including vital mountain ash forest ecosystems. Kangaroos, koala bears, wombats, wallabies, endangered possums, lizards, and many bird species and fish were overcome by the flames. Millions of them died, but survivors were nursed back to health at wildlife hospitals and showed a remarkable ability to bounce back to health. The hour-long documentary is from Nature, Canon, WNET Television, and PBS Television Distribution.

JOURNEY OF THE BONESETTER’S DAUGHTER

Opera lovers are treated to this documentary that follows the creation of the San Francisco Opera’s production of the opera, The Bonesetter’s Daughter, based on Amy Tan’s best-selling novel. The behind-the-scenes hour-long documentary brings together artists from China and the U.S. to tell about the opera, a story about the difficult but unbreakable bond between mothers and daughters, inspired by Tan’s own family history. The DVD is from KQED, Art Works, and PBS Television Distribution.

FRONTLINE: FOOTBALL HIGH

My master sometimes stops on our walks and we watch school boys playing football. Ouch! Some of them really look like they get hurt. How safe are boys playing high school football? This hour-long Frontline-PBS documentary looks at the safety and other factors in high school football. The special reports on a school where two plays collapsed from heatstroke last year while practicing during one of the hottest summers on record and suffered extensive damage to their internal organs. One died, the other survived. At another school, 60,000 players suffered concussions each year. A report of special interest to parents, coaches, and players, from PBS Distribution.

SAVING THE OCEAN; SHARK REEF AND THE SACRED ISLAND

A PBS Television documentary on environmental dangers in the oceans, focusing on sharks around the world and also the fishing threats to the Sacred Island of Pemba, part of Zanzibar in East Africa. Two starting episodes of a new series, SAVING THE OCEAN, reporting on marine environmental dangers. The DVD is from PBS Distribution.

CRAFT IN AMERICA: MESSAGES

How many craft artists express personal and political ideas to tell a story, prove a point, or bring attention to issues. A Wisconsin glass artist explores the symbolism of 17^th century still-life to show the fragility in nature. A New Mexican artist uses authentic materials to combine historic religious subject matter with contemporary culture. A Baltimore bead artist uses bead and quilting to focus on issues such as race and stereotyping. A New Orleans sculptor created a series of wall panels that document the destruction after Hurricane Katrina. Through craft, messages help us to gain a greater understanding of our nation’s complex heritage. From PBS Distribution.

TYPEFACE

Typography is a seldom explored form of art. This documentary explores graphic design and how old and new techniques are converging. It tells of artists from the Midwest who meet in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, to attend printmaking workshops one weekend each month and utilize both traditional techniques and modern design in their work. The DVD is from PBS Distribution.

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: THE DUEL

The American Revolution was over, but a war was not ended between two leading politicians of the time. The most famous duel in American history is recalled in this documentary between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr on the morning of July 11, 1804. From first-person documents, interviews with historians, and historical re-enactments,

the duel tells of the bitterness between the two political giants, Hamilton one of the framers of the U.S. Constitution, and Burr, a rival for political power.

Another excellent entry in the American Experience series seen on PBS Television, the hour-long DVD is from PBS Distribution.

NEW YORK STREET GAMES

Before there was television, computers, video games, the Internet, and Facebook and Twitter, boys and girls like my master played non-electric games in the streets. This delightful documentary takes a look back at those “kinder, gentler days” on New York’s streets in early to mid years of the 1900s. Celebrities, politicians, businessmen, and average New Yorkers recall their childhoods playing games such as Spaldeen, Stoopball, Tingoleavio, Skully, and others, played with everything at hand from a ball to a broomstick. The 90-minute DVD comes with a booklet with rules for 13 of the most popular games. It’s a real hoot back in time from PBS Distribution.

FRONTLINE: WIKISECRETS

If you want to know about how the biggest government-political breach in American history happened, this is the DVD for you. PBS Television’s Frontline examines the hoopla in “Wikisecrets: Julian Assange, Bradley Manning, and Wikileaks.” The hour-long documentary reports on the leaking of more than a half million classified documents on the Wikiuleaks Internet website, and includes interviews with Assange and Manning’s father. Manning, a U.S. Army intelligence analyst, has been charged with handing over the classified documents to Assange who released them on the Wikileak Internet website. A very important DVD documentary from PBS Distribution.

NOVA: POWER SURGE

The PBS science series examines whether new technology can defeat global warming in this hour-long documentary. Included are what roles coal and nuclear energy may play in solving the environmental problems they create. From PBS Distribution.

SECRETS OF THE DEAD: World’s Biggest Bomb

A documentary about the race between the United States and Soviet scientists to build and detonate the world’s largest bomb. The U.S. won the race on March 1, 1954 when it exploded its first hydrogen bomb, in an operation known as “Castle Bravo,” at Bikini Atoll in the South Pacific. It’s still America’s biggest bomb, although concentration then shifted on smaller, more precise bombs. But the Soviet Union continued building massive devices capable of destroying entire cities. Their efforts reached their peak on October 30, 1961 when they exploded the “Tsar” above the north European island of Novaya Zemlya. The 50-megaton bomb was equal to ten times the entire amount of explosives used in World War II. The hour-long DVD about the super bomb race is from PBS Distribution.

AMERICA’S TEST KITCHEN: Season 11

The most-watched cooking show on public television, it just keeps going and is always a good way to learn new recipes worth cooking up. Christopher Kimball and kitchen helpers show how they make some of their favorites from Cook’s Illustrated magazine. The dishes include indoor pulled pork, simple pot roast, bread pudding, and Chicago-style deep dish pizza (I love it when my master gives me a little of the crust). A boxed set of 4 DVDs from PBS Distribution.

3 KEYS TO HEART HEALTH

Dr. Lori Mosca, professor of medicine at Columbia University Medical Center and a leading preventive cardiologist, offers practical steps to preventing heart disease. She addresses her advice to women because it is the number one killer of women, but the keys also apply to men. She answers common questions about heart disease and gives a prescription for exercise and nutrition. Healthy viewing from PBS Distribution.

MUSIC OF THE 70s

If your master remembers the songs “Nobody Does it Better,” “You Light Up My Life,” and “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head,” he or she will probably love this new DVD of some of the favorite songs of the 1970s. It’s called MARVIN HAMLISH PRESENTS THE 70s, THE WAY WE WERE. The award-winning composer and conductor hosts this television special bringing together on-stage for the first time the singers who made the songs favorites. A companion to the DVD is a CD that includes bonus songs. From PBS Distribution.

That’s all, folks. See you at the same fire hydrant next month. And if you want to social network with me, I’m not on Facebook or Twitter (I’m a more independent dog than that), email me at waltmax@comcast.net.)

Max's Best DVD and Blu-ray Picks June 2011

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 15^th 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.

Max's Best DVD and Blu-ray Picks May 2011

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 18^th 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.