|
All four "Rambo" features, starring Sylvester Stallone, have
been previously released on Blu-ray. Now they are collected in a single box set.
" First Blood" (1982) remains the best and most
interesting film of the series, a rugged survivalist thriller turned on its head
that draws its resonance directly from the wounds left by Vietnam, and
indirectly on the collective guilt over the mistreatment of the American vets. A
big theatrical hit and a huge video favorite, it led to the cartoonish sequel
" Rambo: First Blood Part II" (1985), a veritable
do-over of the Vietnam War where Rambo asks the question, "Do we get to win this
time?" He took the battle right to the Russkies in " Rambo III" (1988), where he fights side by side
with Afghan guerrillas (the same ones who later spawned al-Qaida) to save his
mentor and symbolic father Richard Crenna (the stern, utterly professional Green
Beret authority figure of all three films). It took two decades for
Rambo to surface again, this time roused from self-imposed exile in Thailand to
rescue American missionaries from brutal Burmese killers in the simply named " Rambo" (2008) (also available separately in an
extended cut). Blood spurts, limbs fly, bodies are machine-gunned to pieces and
blown into mulch, lots of it aided by gory CGI flourishes, in his brand of
gunboat diplomacy. Four discs in an extra-large case with hinged trays. Each
disc features commentary, featurettes and other supplements and interactive
features. |
|
 |
| Battlestar Galactica: Season 3 |
|
The dynamic third season of the gritty science fiction series
opens with most of humanity in a Cylon prison camp on New Caprica, and the
feelings of betrayal, accusations of treason, survivor's guilt, and blind,
unfocused rage reverberate through the entire season. The atmosphere of moral
ambiguity, spiritual mystery and survivalist reality is at its best in this
season. Twenty episodes on five discs in a digipak case, with all the DVD
supplements (podcast commentary by producer Ronald D. Moore, bonus commentary
tracks on two episodes, an extended episode and other extras), plus Blu-ray
exclusive interactive supplements and BD-Live options.
|
|
|
 |
| Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon |
|
Previously available on Blu-ray exclusively in a box set, Ang
Lee's high-flying, Oscar-winning international hit "Crouching Tiger, Hidden
Dragon" (2000), starring Chow Yun-Fat, Michele Yeoh and Ziyi Zhang in a
star-making performance as a feisty young princess, debuts as a single-disc
edition. Features fine commentary by director Ang Lee and co-writer/longtime
collaborator James Schamus, along with the other supplements from the Special
Edition DVD (the promotional featurette "Unleashing the Dragon" and an interview
with Michelle Yeoh).
|
|
|
 |
| The Red Shoes |
|
Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger's "The Red Shoes" has
been called the greatest ballet film ever made, but it's really about three
artists who give all to their art -- dancer Vicky (real-life ballet star Moira
Shearer), composer Julian (Marius Goring) and ballet company director and
impresario Lermontov (Anton Walbrook), in many ways a stand-in for the film
director -- and about two men who force Vicky to choose between dance and love,
with devastating consequences. The dance sequences are among the most beautiful
put on film, stage ballet transformed into cinematic experience, but the drama
behind the curtain is even more interesting. Powell shows the dues that they pay
working their way up through the company and the enormous physical and creative
effort it takes to create a ballet (and a film). It's a loving and lavish
tribute to dance and on of the most sumptuous color films ever
made.
Criterion's new DVD and Blu-ray edition is mastered from the 2009
restoration by UCLA and The Film Foundation, from the original three-strip
Technicolor elements (each strip individually digitally restored and then
recombined), and it is superb: the colors rich and deep, the image sharp and
stable, the audio clean and clear. Martin Scorsese narrates a four-minute
featurette on the restoration. Also new is the 25-minute documentary "Profile of
The Red Shoes" from 2000 (dutiful but not particularly enlightening) and a 2009
interview with Thelma Schoonmaker Powell (Scorsese's editor and Powell's widow).
The disc also features the previous supplements: commentary by film
historian/Scorsese authority Ian Christie, featuring interviews with stars
Marius Goring and Moira Shearer, cinematographer Jack Cardiff, composer Brian
Easdale, and filmmaker Martin Scorsese; galleries of stills and memorabilia; and
Jeremy Irons reading excerpts from Powell and Pressburger's novelization of "The
Red Shoes." There's also a booklet with an essay by Christie.
|
|
|
 |
| Black Narcissus |
|
Along with the restored "The Red Shoes" comes a newly remastered
Criterion edition of Michael Powell's evocative drama of five nuns (led by the
defiant Deborah Kerr) whose resolve, chastity, and faith come under assault in
an isolated, primitive Himalayan retreat. Jack Cardiff won an Oscar for his
vibrant, rich work: a fantastic India of the mind created in Britain s Pinewood
Studios and a color-saturated Technicolor hothouse atmosphere for Powell s
building hysteria. New to this release is a video introduction and a video
interview by Bertrand Tavernier and the 25-minute documentary "Profile of Black
Narcissus" from 2000. Also features the previously available commentary by
Martin Scorsese and Michael Powell, and the documentary "Painting With Light,"
about cinematographer Cardiff and his work on the film; plus, there's a booklet
with an essay by Kent Jones.
|
|
|
|
|
Sean Axmaker is a film critic for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, a DVD
columnist for MSN Entertainment and a contributing writer for GreenCine.com,
Turner Classic Movies Online, Parallax View and Asian Cult Cinema, among other
publications. Find links to all of this and more on his shamelessly self-promoting blog.
|
|
|
|
|
|
