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DVDs: Skyfall , Argo and Other Oscar
Hopefuls Ready to Watch
A slew of Oscar hopefuls hit shelves just in time for you to check them out before the
awards show on Sunday night.
Skyfall ($39.99 Blu-ray combo; MGM)
Argo ($35.99 Blu-ray combo; Warner
Bros.)Anna Karenina ($34.98 Blu-ray
combo; Focus/Universal)The Sessions ($29.99 Blu-ray; Fox
Searchlight)The Loretta Young Show 100thBIrthday Edition ($99.99 DVD;
Timeless) -- The greatest James Bondfilm of all time resides only in our mind.It's some sort of platonic ideal thatcombines a clever gadget or two, a BondGirl of breathtaking beauty and actingchops to boot; a tremendous villain that is
both genuinely threatening and real,
intense drama, excellent set pieces that
are both viscerally thrilling and well-acted
a la Harrison Ford in Raiders and so on
and so forth. Skyfall comes darn close
though I'm a little surprised as to why
this particular Bond should have finally
broken through into the category of
mega-franchise. I know earlier editionswere blockbusters when you adjust forinflation, but still. Oh and I almost forgot:a great theme song. That to me is whereSkyfall joins the all-time Top 5 for sure.
The movie should have been nominatedfor Best Picture and Best SupportingActress for Judi Dench, but it absolutelydeserves to win Best Song.
Argo is pegged to win Best Picture and it
already feels like a pleasant movie that
has been over-praised a tad. It's fun,though I thought there was a scene thatwas too much with Alan Arkin and JohnGoodman back in the U.S. Ironically, itdeserves more notice for Ben Affleck's
May 2, 2014
This is the print preview:
Back to normal view »
Posted: 02/19/2013 5:55 pm
direction (which wasn't nominated) than
as a movie overall. Don't get me wrong. Itcould remain on my ever-changing best ofthe year list. But The Master and Amour
and Django Unchained , to name three,
rank much higher and will age well.
Anna Karenina made bold choices in its
presentation: The movie is "artificial,"
with actors sometimes performing theirscenes onstage, at other times wandering"off set" and revealing backstageequipment and ladders and fake wallsand the like. While it added little to thefilm, I found this essentially fine. Theproblem, unfortunately, is with thecasting and the sprawling nature of thenovel which doesn't condense well into afilm. This same team making a ten-hourminiseries would unquestionably producea better work. But for me Keira Knightleyand especially Aaron Taylor-Johnson arenot right. Taylor-Johnson in particular is
an actor I like very much but is wholly
unsuited to the role of the magnetic
Vronsky. Jude Law is better as Anna's
cold husband but that's not enough to
make the movie any more than acuriosity. For heaven's sake, read the
book.
For one brief moment, The Sessions
seemed like an Oscar juggernaut. JohnHawkes fell by the wayside but HelenHunt snagged yet another nomination forher work as a sex therapist. Nothingsucceeds like success. Both actors notablycame from TV, where Hawkes achieved a
high profile on Deadwood and Hunt became an Emmy favorite on Mad About You.
Once upon a time, crossing back and forth between TV and film was seen as hard anddefinitive. (If you headed to TV, your film career was over.) That was certainly the casefor Oscar winner Loretta Young. She headed to TV in 1953 and enjoyed massive success inan anthology series that ran for eight seasons in various formats. This set -- The LorettaYoung Show 100th Birthday Edition -- contains more than 60 hours of television drawn
from the more than 160 episodes she made, offering comedies and usually inspiringdramas about women facing an issue or crisis. Young won multiple Emmys and nevermade another feature film. But at least we will always have her twirling at the start ofevery episode to show off a new dress and reading inspirational passages from the Bibleand other texts at the end. A different era, to say the least.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower ($24.99
Blu-ray; Summit)
North Sea Texas ($27.99 DVD; Strand)
Hipsters ($29.95 DVD; Kino Lorber)
Our Paradise ($21.99 DVD; Breaking
Glass/QC Cinema) -- The Perks Of BeingA Wallflower is a very faithful adaptation
of a coming of age novel put out by MTVas the first book in its publishing imprint.It was an auspicious choice that struck achord with teens and has sold hundredsof thousands of copies ever since. Theflaws of the book are on full display in thefilm (it was directed by the author),including earnestness and the feeling thatthe person living it has never read acoming of age tale before and so what isby now familiar cliche is presented as ifit's a fresh insight. Still, the excellent castraises the material, with Emma Watsonsubtle and good as the object of desire,Ezra Miller good in the difficult role ofthe increasingly flamboyant gay teen andLogan Lerman exceptional as our ratherpassive hero.
Another film with gay storylines is North
Sea Texas , the long-awaited feature film
debut by the talented shorts director Bavo
Defurne. Here he delivers an atypically
realistic, quiet coming of age tale, as
opposed to his Pink Narcissus-like fever
dream shorts. A festival favorite, it didn'treach a wider audience but Defurne's
talent deserves one.
Also worthy of more notice was Hipsters ,
a light Russian film that shows teenagers
rebelling -- for a time -- in 1955 Moscow.The movie has fun mocking Russiancinema styles and -- continuing the gaytheme -- there's a subplot about acomrade who'd like to be more than justcomrades with our hero.
Finally, Our Paradise is strictly for the
gay festival crowd, though it is a good
showcase for director Gael Morel (whostarred in the classic Wild Reeds and hassince directed a number of films) andactor Dmitri Durdaine.
Game of Thrones The Complete Second
Season ($79.98 Blu-ray; HBO)
Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome"($34.98 Blu-ray combo; SyFy/Universal)Naked City: 20 Star-Filled Episodes
($24.98 DVD; Image)
Weeds 8th and Final Season ($39.97 Blu-
ray; Lionsgate)
Nurse Jackie Season Four ($39.97 Blu-
ray; Lionsgate)
Hats Off to Dr. Seuss: Collectors Edition($59.99 Blu-ray; Warner Bros.) -- Game
Of Thrones improved notably over season
one, so maybe it's adamant fans will cut
me some slack this time. It's still notnearly as rich as the novels the series is
based on, but that should improve once
they spend two seasons tackling the
storylines of each book rather than just
one. Mind you, the main reason season
two is better is that Peter Dinklage gets
more screen time. So it's not that they'veimproved in so many areas, just wiselyplayed to their strength (and the plot ofthe books). The Blu-ray set is loaded withextras and looks terrific, by the way. Andit's a lot more fun to binge watch theshow so you can keep all the rivalriesstraight in your head.
Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome is
a series designed to be seen on the web in
brief bursts. Those webisodes have beencollected onto one set, which is handy.But keep in mind the source -- this is ofthe highest quality when compared toother web-only shows but not up to thestandards of the classic reboot fromwhich it sprang. Still, you can't helpwondering what if for this prequel setduring the first Cylon War. Ah well,better to leave well enough alone.
Naked City is one of TV's early notable
dramas. Sort of the Law & Order of its
day, with shooting on the streets of NYC
adding immensely to the realism of itscops and robbers storylines. Essentiallyan anthology, it changed stars repeatedlythroughout its tentative five year run. TheDVD releases have been just asscattershot. If you haven't bought anybefore, this set takes a grab bag of
episodes notable for cameos by soon to be
famous stars. If we're not going to get fullseason sets, this is as good a randomapproach as any and at least gives you 20episodes out of the 138 they made. A solidsampler.
Weeds never quite maintained the critical
notice of its first season (unlike Breaking
Bad). But Mary Louise Parker hasconsistently had fun and if you've stuckwith it all the way, you surely want to seehow it all turns out. Still, it would havebeen much better off with a shorter run.but then you could say that about just anyTV series you can name that lasted morethan five seasons.
Still bizarrely labeled a comedy, the
blackly humorous drama Nurse Jackiecontinues to give Edie Falco one of themost complex heroines on TV. It tooshould start eying a finish line, but you
can understand how hard it is to give up
a vehicle with such a rollercoaster of a
part.
Finally, they've been collected repeatedly
in various versions, but here you get most
of the Dr. Seuss specials (and all the bigones) on Blu-ray. It's also rather pricey,even though you get nine specials in all.But for the content itself, you can't beatThe Cat In The Hat, Horton Hears AWho and How The Grinch Stole
Christmas, three classic TV specials and
surely some of the best adaptations of apicture book we'll ever likely see. Justwatch the movies again if you want to bereminded what a blessing these are.
The Thief of Baghdad ($24.98 Blu-ray;
Cohen Film Collection)
Laura ($24.99 Blu-ray; FOX)
Die Hard 25th Anniversary Blu-ray
Collection ($59.99 Blu-ray; FOX)
The Complete Adventures of Flash
Gordon ($19.98 DVD; Image)
Julius Caesar ($29.95 Blu-ray;
Olive/Paramount)Don Giovanni ($29.95 Blu-ray;
Olive/Paramount)Les Miserables ($29.95 Blu-ray;
Olive/Paramount) -- Cohen FilmCollections is the first release of a newimprint devoted to releasing the classicfilms and shorts in its library. TheDouglas Fairbanks version of The Thief OfBaghdad is a corker and a promising
launch to the series, given its finerestoration. The extras are modest butpersonally I'm more concerned about thequality of the film and they deliver here.it's as good as I've seen.
Laura is one of the all-time noir champs
and contains an iconic performance by
Clifton Webb, though Dana Andrews is
exceptional and Gene Tierney lives up to
both the build-up of Laura and the
exclamation that the actress was the most
beautiful woman in the world. This print
is a solid transfer by Fox and worthy ofthe film's pedigree. If you've never seenthis mystery, in which a detectiveinvestigating a murder falls in love withthe woman that was killed, you're in for atreat.
Die Hard is a very fun movie that
launched a franchise that has struggled
ever since to maintain the standards itset. Bruce Willis is always fun but giventhe harsh reviews for the latest version,you're probably better off sticking withwhat you know. This Blu-ray set containsthe first four films but don't be surprisedif the only one you re-watch is theoriginal.
I'm a big fan of the old movie serials that
used to run for weeks and weeks before
feature films, each episode about 10 or 15
minutes long and invariably ending witha cliffhanger. I always thought theyshould be packaged together in boxed setsat a bargain price and that's exactly whatImage has finally done with the threeFlash Gordon serials starring BusterCrabbe in The Complete Adventures OfFlash Gordon. You get all three complete
serials on four discs, which run to morethan 13 hours! Plus they're presented in anice full color hardback set with a bookletthat contains imagery from the originalcomic strips. it's a pity the booklet isglued to the case but this is an exemplaryset at a terrific price. Fans of sci-fi andFlash Gordon in particular shouldn't
hesitate. If you've got kids, it's really fun
to dole them out rather than gobbling
them up all at once. Bring on more
serials!
Three reissues of flawed but notable
movies round out this section: Julius
Caesar features John Gielgud in this stiff
1970 version starring Charlton Heston. it
pales compared to the Brando versionfrom the 1953 but it's fascinating to seeGielgud assay the same role after 17 yearshave passed. Don Giovanni is an
adaptation of the opera by Joseph Loseythat is strictly for buffs. And LesMiserables has been filmed many, many
times. This French version from 1958stars the ideal casting of Jean Gabin asJean Valjean, excellent casting but not anexcellent film despite the Victor Hugo-likerunning time of 188 minutes.
Photographic Memory ($27.95 DVD;
First Run Features)
Undefeated ($24.99 Blu-ray;
Weinstein/Anchor Bay)Bully ($29.99 Blu-ray; Weinstein; Anchor
Bay) -- Filmmaker Ross McElwee of thedeeply personal Sherman's March felt a
little estranged from his son. So naturally
he headed out and made another movie!Photographic Memory, the latest chapter
in one of the more idiosyncratic careersin documentary filmmaking, showsMcElwee heading back to Brittany toexplore his own childhood.
Undefeated is the heartwarming, Oscar-
winning film about high school football
players and the volunteer coach whobelieved in them as players and as men.
Like Hoop Dreams, but shorter and more
sentimental.
And Bully is the hard-to-argue-with
documentary film that says bullying is
wrong. Sure, but one can't help feeling
the movie is preaching to the choir andisn't quite the game changer for thosewho actually do bully. Still, one can hope.
*****
Most titles listed here will be available inmultiple formats and in multiplecombinations, including DVD, Blu-ray,digital download, video on demand,streaming and the like. The format listedis the format provided for review, not allthe formats available. It is often the mostexpensive version with the most extras.Do check individual titles for availabilityin all their various guises and pricepoints.
Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the
co-host of Showbiz Sandbox , a weekly
pop culture podcast that reveals theindustry take on entertainment news ofthe day and features top journalists andopinion makers as guests. It's available
for free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz athis website and his daily blog . Download
his podcast of celebrity interviews andhis radio show, also called Popsurfing
and also available for free on iTunes.
Link to him on Netflix and gain access to
thousands of ratings and reviews.
Note : Michael Giltz is provided with free
copies of DVDs and Blu-rays with the
understanding that he would beconsidering them for review. Generally,he does not guarantee to review and hereceives far more titles than he cancover.
Follow Michael Giltz on Twitter:
www.twitter.com/michaelgiltz
Hopefuls Ready to Watch
A slew of Oscar hopefuls hit shelves just in time for you to check them out before the
awards show on Sunday night.
Skyfall ($39.99 Blu-ray combo; MGM)
Argo ($35.99 Blu-ray combo; Warner
Bros.)Anna Karenina ($34.98 Blu-ray
combo; Focus/Universal)The Sessions ($29.99 Blu-ray; Fox
Searchlight)The Loretta Young Show 100thBIrthday Edition ($99.99 DVD;
Timeless) -- The greatest James Bondfilm of all time resides only in our mind.It's some sort of platonic ideal thatcombines a clever gadget or two, a BondGirl of breathtaking beauty and actingchops to boot; a tremendous villain that is
both genuinely threatening and real,
intense drama, excellent set pieces that
are both viscerally thrilling and well-acted
a la Harrison Ford in Raiders and so on
and so forth. Skyfall comes darn close
though I'm a little surprised as to why
this particular Bond should have finally
broken through into the category of
mega-franchise. I know earlier editionswere blockbusters when you adjust forinflation, but still. Oh and I almost forgot:a great theme song. That to me is whereSkyfall joins the all-time Top 5 for sure.
The movie should have been nominatedfor Best Picture and Best SupportingActress for Judi Dench, but it absolutelydeserves to win Best Song.
Argo is pegged to win Best Picture and it
already feels like a pleasant movie that
has been over-praised a tad. It's fun,though I thought there was a scene thatwas too much with Alan Arkin and JohnGoodman back in the U.S. Ironically, itdeserves more notice for Ben Affleck's
May 2, 2014
This is the print preview:
Back to normal view »
Posted: 02/19/2013 5:55 pm
direction (which wasn't nominated) than
as a movie overall. Don't get me wrong. Itcould remain on my ever-changing best ofthe year list. But The Master and Amour
and Django Unchained , to name three,
rank much higher and will age well.
Anna Karenina made bold choices in its
presentation: The movie is "artificial,"
with actors sometimes performing theirscenes onstage, at other times wandering"off set" and revealing backstageequipment and ladders and fake wallsand the like. While it added little to thefilm, I found this essentially fine. Theproblem, unfortunately, is with thecasting and the sprawling nature of thenovel which doesn't condense well into afilm. This same team making a ten-hourminiseries would unquestionably producea better work. But for me Keira Knightleyand especially Aaron Taylor-Johnson arenot right. Taylor-Johnson in particular is
an actor I like very much but is wholly
unsuited to the role of the magnetic
Vronsky. Jude Law is better as Anna's
cold husband but that's not enough to
make the movie any more than acuriosity. For heaven's sake, read the
book.
For one brief moment, The Sessions
seemed like an Oscar juggernaut. JohnHawkes fell by the wayside but HelenHunt snagged yet another nomination forher work as a sex therapist. Nothingsucceeds like success. Both actors notablycame from TV, where Hawkes achieved a
high profile on Deadwood and Hunt became an Emmy favorite on Mad About You.
Once upon a time, crossing back and forth between TV and film was seen as hard anddefinitive. (If you headed to TV, your film career was over.) That was certainly the casefor Oscar winner Loretta Young. She headed to TV in 1953 and enjoyed massive success inan anthology series that ran for eight seasons in various formats. This set -- The LorettaYoung Show 100th Birthday Edition -- contains more than 60 hours of television drawn
from the more than 160 episodes she made, offering comedies and usually inspiringdramas about women facing an issue or crisis. Young won multiple Emmys and nevermade another feature film. But at least we will always have her twirling at the start ofevery episode to show off a new dress and reading inspirational passages from the Bibleand other texts at the end. A different era, to say the least.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower ($24.99
Blu-ray; Summit)
North Sea Texas ($27.99 DVD; Strand)
Hipsters ($29.95 DVD; Kino Lorber)
Our Paradise ($21.99 DVD; Breaking
Glass/QC Cinema) -- The Perks Of BeingA Wallflower is a very faithful adaptation
of a coming of age novel put out by MTVas the first book in its publishing imprint.It was an auspicious choice that struck achord with teens and has sold hundredsof thousands of copies ever since. Theflaws of the book are on full display in thefilm (it was directed by the author),including earnestness and the feeling thatthe person living it has never read acoming of age tale before and so what isby now familiar cliche is presented as ifit's a fresh insight. Still, the excellent castraises the material, with Emma Watsonsubtle and good as the object of desire,Ezra Miller good in the difficult role ofthe increasingly flamboyant gay teen andLogan Lerman exceptional as our ratherpassive hero.
Another film with gay storylines is North
Sea Texas , the long-awaited feature film
debut by the talented shorts director Bavo
Defurne. Here he delivers an atypically
realistic, quiet coming of age tale, as
opposed to his Pink Narcissus-like fever
dream shorts. A festival favorite, it didn'treach a wider audience but Defurne's
talent deserves one.
Also worthy of more notice was Hipsters ,
a light Russian film that shows teenagers
rebelling -- for a time -- in 1955 Moscow.The movie has fun mocking Russiancinema styles and -- continuing the gaytheme -- there's a subplot about acomrade who'd like to be more than justcomrades with our hero.
Finally, Our Paradise is strictly for the
gay festival crowd, though it is a good
showcase for director Gael Morel (whostarred in the classic Wild Reeds and hassince directed a number of films) andactor Dmitri Durdaine.
Game of Thrones The Complete Second
Season ($79.98 Blu-ray; HBO)
Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome"($34.98 Blu-ray combo; SyFy/Universal)Naked City: 20 Star-Filled Episodes
($24.98 DVD; Image)
Weeds 8th and Final Season ($39.97 Blu-
ray; Lionsgate)
Nurse Jackie Season Four ($39.97 Blu-
ray; Lionsgate)
Hats Off to Dr. Seuss: Collectors Edition($59.99 Blu-ray; Warner Bros.) -- Game
Of Thrones improved notably over season
one, so maybe it's adamant fans will cut
me some slack this time. It's still notnearly as rich as the novels the series is
based on, but that should improve once
they spend two seasons tackling the
storylines of each book rather than just
one. Mind you, the main reason season
two is better is that Peter Dinklage gets
more screen time. So it's not that they'veimproved in so many areas, just wiselyplayed to their strength (and the plot ofthe books). The Blu-ray set is loaded withextras and looks terrific, by the way. Andit's a lot more fun to binge watch theshow so you can keep all the rivalriesstraight in your head.
Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome is
a series designed to be seen on the web in
brief bursts. Those webisodes have beencollected onto one set, which is handy.But keep in mind the source -- this is ofthe highest quality when compared toother web-only shows but not up to thestandards of the classic reboot fromwhich it sprang. Still, you can't helpwondering what if for this prequel setduring the first Cylon War. Ah well,better to leave well enough alone.
Naked City is one of TV's early notable
dramas. Sort of the Law & Order of its
day, with shooting on the streets of NYC
adding immensely to the realism of itscops and robbers storylines. Essentiallyan anthology, it changed stars repeatedlythroughout its tentative five year run. TheDVD releases have been just asscattershot. If you haven't bought anybefore, this set takes a grab bag of
episodes notable for cameos by soon to be
famous stars. If we're not going to get fullseason sets, this is as good a randomapproach as any and at least gives you 20episodes out of the 138 they made. A solidsampler.
Weeds never quite maintained the critical
notice of its first season (unlike Breaking
Bad). But Mary Louise Parker hasconsistently had fun and if you've stuckwith it all the way, you surely want to seehow it all turns out. Still, it would havebeen much better off with a shorter run.but then you could say that about just anyTV series you can name that lasted morethan five seasons.
Still bizarrely labeled a comedy, the
blackly humorous drama Nurse Jackiecontinues to give Edie Falco one of themost complex heroines on TV. It tooshould start eying a finish line, but you
can understand how hard it is to give up
a vehicle with such a rollercoaster of a
part.
Finally, they've been collected repeatedly
in various versions, but here you get most
of the Dr. Seuss specials (and all the bigones) on Blu-ray. It's also rather pricey,even though you get nine specials in all.But for the content itself, you can't beatThe Cat In The Hat, Horton Hears AWho and How The Grinch Stole
Christmas, three classic TV specials and
surely some of the best adaptations of apicture book we'll ever likely see. Justwatch the movies again if you want to bereminded what a blessing these are.
The Thief of Baghdad ($24.98 Blu-ray;
Cohen Film Collection)
Laura ($24.99 Blu-ray; FOX)
Die Hard 25th Anniversary Blu-ray
Collection ($59.99 Blu-ray; FOX)
The Complete Adventures of Flash
Gordon ($19.98 DVD; Image)
Julius Caesar ($29.95 Blu-ray;
Olive/Paramount)Don Giovanni ($29.95 Blu-ray;
Olive/Paramount)Les Miserables ($29.95 Blu-ray;
Olive/Paramount) -- Cohen FilmCollections is the first release of a newimprint devoted to releasing the classicfilms and shorts in its library. TheDouglas Fairbanks version of The Thief OfBaghdad is a corker and a promising
launch to the series, given its finerestoration. The extras are modest butpersonally I'm more concerned about thequality of the film and they deliver here.it's as good as I've seen.
Laura is one of the all-time noir champs
and contains an iconic performance by
Clifton Webb, though Dana Andrews is
exceptional and Gene Tierney lives up to
both the build-up of Laura and the
exclamation that the actress was the most
beautiful woman in the world. This print
is a solid transfer by Fox and worthy ofthe film's pedigree. If you've never seenthis mystery, in which a detectiveinvestigating a murder falls in love withthe woman that was killed, you're in for atreat.
Die Hard is a very fun movie that
launched a franchise that has struggled
ever since to maintain the standards itset. Bruce Willis is always fun but giventhe harsh reviews for the latest version,you're probably better off sticking withwhat you know. This Blu-ray set containsthe first four films but don't be surprisedif the only one you re-watch is theoriginal.
I'm a big fan of the old movie serials that
used to run for weeks and weeks before
feature films, each episode about 10 or 15
minutes long and invariably ending witha cliffhanger. I always thought theyshould be packaged together in boxed setsat a bargain price and that's exactly whatImage has finally done with the threeFlash Gordon serials starring BusterCrabbe in The Complete Adventures OfFlash Gordon. You get all three complete
serials on four discs, which run to morethan 13 hours! Plus they're presented in anice full color hardback set with a bookletthat contains imagery from the originalcomic strips. it's a pity the booklet isglued to the case but this is an exemplaryset at a terrific price. Fans of sci-fi andFlash Gordon in particular shouldn't
hesitate. If you've got kids, it's really fun
to dole them out rather than gobbling
them up all at once. Bring on more
serials!
Three reissues of flawed but notable
movies round out this section: Julius
Caesar features John Gielgud in this stiff
1970 version starring Charlton Heston. it
pales compared to the Brando versionfrom the 1953 but it's fascinating to seeGielgud assay the same role after 17 yearshave passed. Don Giovanni is an
adaptation of the opera by Joseph Loseythat is strictly for buffs. And LesMiserables has been filmed many, many
times. This French version from 1958stars the ideal casting of Jean Gabin asJean Valjean, excellent casting but not anexcellent film despite the Victor Hugo-likerunning time of 188 minutes.
Photographic Memory ($27.95 DVD;
First Run Features)
Undefeated ($24.99 Blu-ray;
Weinstein/Anchor Bay)Bully ($29.99 Blu-ray; Weinstein; Anchor
Bay) -- Filmmaker Ross McElwee of thedeeply personal Sherman's March felt a
little estranged from his son. So naturally
he headed out and made another movie!Photographic Memory, the latest chapter
in one of the more idiosyncratic careersin documentary filmmaking, showsMcElwee heading back to Brittany toexplore his own childhood.
Undefeated is the heartwarming, Oscar-
winning film about high school football
players and the volunteer coach whobelieved in them as players and as men.
Like Hoop Dreams, but shorter and more
sentimental.
And Bully is the hard-to-argue-with
documentary film that says bullying is
wrong. Sure, but one can't help feeling
the movie is preaching to the choir andisn't quite the game changer for thosewho actually do bully. Still, one can hope.
*****
Most titles listed here will be available inmultiple formats and in multiplecombinations, including DVD, Blu-ray,digital download, video on demand,streaming and the like. The format listedis the format provided for review, not allthe formats available. It is often the mostexpensive version with the most extras.Do check individual titles for availabilityin all their various guises and pricepoints.
Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the
co-host of Showbiz Sandbox , a weekly
pop culture podcast that reveals theindustry take on entertainment news ofthe day and features top journalists andopinion makers as guests. It's available
for free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz athis website and his daily blog . Download
his podcast of celebrity interviews andhis radio show, also called Popsurfing
and also available for free on iTunes.
Link to him on Netflix and gain access to
thousands of ratings and reviews.
Note : Michael Giltz is provided with free
copies of DVDs and Blu-rays with the
understanding that he would beconsidering them for review. Generally,he does not guarantee to review and hereceives far more titles than he cancover.
Follow Michael Giltz on Twitter:
www.twitter.com/michaelgiltz