Max's Best DVD Picks

Yes, this exquisite British television series is my “Best DVD Pick of the Year.” The drama, based upon Evelyn Waugh’s acclaimed novel of friendship and love in pre-World War II British aristocracy, remains after 25 years the series against which all new efforts have been measured. Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews are brilliant as college friends who may be too attracted to each other, then… But to tell more would be to spoil your enjoyment of a multi-faceted story that will keep you engrossed from opening to close. The series took two years to make and is the equivalent of seven feature films back-to-back. Others in the all-star cast include Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud, Claire Bloom, and Diane Quick. Previously released on DVD a few years ago, it is now presented in a special 4-DVD boxed anniversary collector’s edition that includes a new 50-minute retrospective documentary, commentaries from the cast and producers, a photo gallery, and a handsome 20-page companion guide. From Granada International and Acorn Media.

Max’s rating: The highest: two paws up and lots of tail wags and “Woo woo’s!”

MARIE ANTOINETTE

You may lose your head over this controversial new telling of how the French queen who told 18th century Parisiennes starving for bread, “Let ‘em eat cake.” Sofia Coppola takes Barbara Kingsolver’s novel for a blithely historical ride as a glitzy comedy of manners if not errors. But it ends before the queen, played by Kirsten Dunst as a more sympathetic royal than previously portrayed, gets to be French fried on the chopping block. From Sony Pictures.

LOOKING FOR KITTY

Edward Burns, the director-star who focuses mainly on the adventures of today’s dating and marriage game, scores again in this comedy as a small-town baseball coach whose wife has disappeared. He is further mystified when it looks like she could have taken up with a rock star. A fun diversion from ThinkFilm.

Gael Garcia Bernal, one of the best and most mature young actors today, stars in this drama of a young man who tries to connect with the father he has never known, played by best actor Oscar-winner William Hurt. But the father, now the pastor of a thriving Baptist church, wants nothing to do with the young man, whose existence he has kept a secret. What follows is like a Greek tragedy. “Dark and deeply unsettling movie… Bernal’s performance is superb,” says the Los Angeles Times. But be warned, the New York Daily News calls it “Jaw dropping… surely among the darkest-themed movies ever made.” From ThinkFilm and Lionsgate.

From the sublime to the ridiculous, and proving that Hollywood screenwriters can make a movie about anything these days, in this one, Adam Sandler has a love affair with his television remote. Not the most cranial comedy, it co-stars Kate Beckinsale, but it won’t bite you. From Sony Pictures.

From far left field comes this charming surprise about the people of a remote Outer Mongolian village who wonder what it is when a boy finds a ping pong ball floating in a nearby stream. One boy’s grandmother thinks it’s a spirit-blessed pearl. But it’s soon discovered that the ball is from the national game of China. From there the story evolves into one of universality as the ball brings the villagers out of their lives like American pioneers a century ago and into exposure to the modern world. “Feast your eyes on this ‘Tom Sawyer’ of the steppes, a visually splendid celebration of childhood!” says the Boston Herald. “A nice change of pace from the noise and cynicism of so many American films aimed at underage audiences. Recalls Laura Ingalls Wilder -- the kind of film that should rightly be seen by children, not just adventurous adults!” says The New York Times. In Mongolian with English subtitles, but don’t let that keep you from seeing this extraordinary film, released by First Run Features.

Reminiscent of GALLIPOLI (1981), Aussie boys naively go off to World War I again in this classic Australian saga. Two best mates enlist to defend God, King, and Country in “the war to end all wars,” but through the realities of battle they come to ask, “What did we achieve?” It plays like an allegory of today’s senseless Iraq War, and the DVD from BFS Entertainment would make an excellent Christmas gift to our head of state and his mates.

Four more of my favorite contemporary British storyteller’s fascinating tales are dramatized in this second collection. They include THE GAMBLING MAN, THE DWELLING PLACE, THE GLASS VIRGIN, and THE MAN WHO CRIED. Stars include Sean Bean, Robson Green, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Ray Stevenson. The stories are drawn from Cookson’s hardscrabble childhood in England’s industrial northeast in the early 1900s. I get wonderfully lost in her stories and almost forget today’s headlines. From Granada International and Acorn Media.

Before Daniel Craig signed up to become the new and sixth actor to play James Bond, he starred in a British movie based upon Evelyn Waugh’s semi-autobiographical World War II satire. Waugh’s British army experiences might remind you of M*A*S*H, but then I guess war not only can be hell but Looney Tunes. “More powerful and moving by the minute,“ said The Times of Britain. From 4 International and Acorn Media.

More murder and mayhem in a contemporary English village with likable cop Tom Barnaby played by John Nettles with the aid of a cocky young London assistant played by John Hopkins. The four new mysteries are woven from characters created by popular mystery writer Caroline Graham. These are entertaining partly because of the charming locations and dark humor. From All 3 Media international and Acorn media.

I loved season one of this hit Canadian television series and feel the same about this second season. Paul Gross(the Mountie of DUE SOUTH), stars as the glue holding together a fictional small stage group at odds on how to perform Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet. You’ll enjoy taking some time off from most mindless American television and movies and spending a few hours with this delightful series. From Rhombus, The Canadian Television Fund, and Acorn Media.

Ian Richardson heads a strong cast in this hilarious comedy-drama series “riddled with fresh, unexpected and really funny jokes,” according to the London Daily Mail. Martin Clunes, Neil Pearson, and Mark Benton join with others on day-trip misadventures that will make you glad you stayed at home and just watched them. The 3-disc collection set is from BFS Entertainment.

The continuing story of Anne of Green Gables, with Kim Braden coming of age in her job as a schoolteacher. The sequel to the beloved children’s classic by L.M. Montgomery is again a retreat to a kinder, gentler age in Nova Scotia. Yes, you can go home again, in this heartwarming DVD from BBC Television and Koch Vision, even if you never lived there.

Ralph Fiennes, to me the best actor alive today, gives another of his off-beat characterizations in a British movie that is both bizarre and fascinating. Directed and written by Robert Edwards with great abandon, this is the story of totalitarianism, its terrorism and follies. Don’t watch this expecting to be amused or casually entertained… it is almost a challenge. While it has its failings, its rewards are many as you follow Fiennes on his adventures being victimized and disillusioned from one despotic government to another. And what other actor but handsome Fiennes would let himself be seen so brutalized as he is in this film? No, not an easy watch, but definitely worth watching. From Vivendi Visual and Bauer Martinez. And, oh yes, forget that Donald Sutherland chews up the scenery as one of the despots.

Gerard Depardieu and Catherine Deneuve, two world treasures of acting who both happen to be French, co-star in this unusual love story set in Morocco. He plays a contractor overseeing construction of a new television broadcast center. But his real interest in taking the job is to reconnect with his first true love, played by Deneuve, who is married and works at a local radio station. They haven’t seen each other in 30 years, so who am I to reveal what happens and if they are reunited? It’s a very special treat to see these two icons of French and world cinema together again. “Visually alive, quick-witted, and full of heart,“ says the New York Times.“ In French with English subtitles from Koch Lorber.

Patrick Stewart stars as a professor enmeshed in contemporary science and crime-solving in this new British television series that is part science-fiction and part investigative thriller. The mysteries involve experimental human cloning, ruthless polluters (are there any other?), and resurgent viruses (achoo!) The series, created by acclaimed sci-fi writer Stephen Gallagher (DOCTOR WHO, OKTOBER), is from Acorn Media.

Mark McManus plays Detective Chief Inspector Jim Taggart, a tough, sarcastic cop in the Maryhill Police Department on the means streets of Scotland’s largest city, Glasgow. With its grisly details and complex plots, TAGGART has become the longest-running police detective drama on British television. EVIL EYE, a 3 DVD set, is from BFS Entertainment.

Those Aussies, who know how to put together a television miniseries (remember THE THORN BIRDS ?), come close again in this first season of the saga of two sisters separated as children who are reunited when they inherit a large Australian cattle ranch. With heart and humor, they pull together a group of women who have committed to an extraordinary life at Drover’s Run. Twenty-two episodes plus the original television movie on 6 DVDs. “This show isn’t like anything else on American TV, and how refreshing to have women’s programming that actually makes female characters smart, savvy, self-sufficient survivors, instead of Desperate Housewives,” said the New York Post. Ladies, start your engines and see this enormous hit that the New York Times called “DALLAS down under!” From Southern Star, Millennium Television, and Koch Vision.

Robert Zemeckis and Stephen Spielberg, who previously teamed up to make the BACK TO THE FUTURE series, offer this animated comedy spook for Halloween. Three young friends wonder what’s going on in a creepy old house that seems to become a living, breathing monster. There goes the neighborhood! From Amblin Entertainment and Columbia Pictures.

Christopher Lee stars in this series of eleven of the most popular horror short stories from the pen of the master of macabre. The DVD set includes a biographical portrait of Poe. Spooky stuff ideal for Halloween. From BFS Entertainment.

“Bloodshed, betrayal, and glory, straight out of the pages of British history.“ David Starkey, the British royalty historian who gave us THE SIX WIVES OF HENRY VIII, stays in the royal mode in this vivid docudrama describing and analyzing the reigns of English men and women who wore the crown over the past 1,500 years. Seen on PBS television this year, it is now in a six-episode 2-DVD boxed set from Thirteen NET New York and Acorn Media. Fascinating drama and pageantry as English history comes alive again.

The glorious story of the superb Russian ballet company and its successors is documented in this film the New Yorker calls “Absolutely fabulous!” and the San Francisco Chronicle praises as “One of the best documentaries of 2005!” A 12-page booklet is included with the DVD that tells the history of the Ballet Russe and contains production notes by the filmmakers. From Zeitgeist Video.

In the spring and summer of 1990, Audrey Hepburn was filmed on location in a tour of some of the world’s most beautiful gardens.
IN PURSUIT OF BEAUTY reconstructs that tour with Audrey herself telling the enchanting story in a three DVD set from Kultur International Films. Gardens visited are in seven countries -- Holland, Dominican Republic, the United States, Japan, Italy, France, and England. “The new documentary so wonderfully captures her heart and spirit,” says Audrey’s life partner, Robert Wolders. “It confirms those personal qualities of Audrey the public somehow instinctively imagines to be true, but otherwise would never be able to know.”

Nine million people lost their lives and four empires collapsed in the first global war from 1914 to 1918. This entry in the WGBH Boston Video series that chronicles milestones of the 20th Century is a stark reminder of the madness of war and how little we learn from it.

The laugh-filled reign of Soupy Sales as one of the superstars of television in the 1960s and 1970s returns in this second set of DVDs titled SOUPY SALES: IN LIVING BLACK AND WHITE. The Pied Piper of whacky television will appeal to audiences of all ages but especially to baby boomers who remember his antics. From Morada Vision.

A musical three-hour documentary about the beloved Austrian music festival from 1920 to the present day. Contains archival footage and never before seen on TV or DVD performances by Placido Domingo, Bruno Walter, Otto Klemperer, Georg Solti and many others. Glorious music from the birthplace of Mozart. >From Kultur International Films.

DVD homage is paid to the legendary, late African singer and guitarist who was known worldwide for his innovative music and deep commitment to improving conditions in his homeland. This documentary gives his fans glimpses into his life, his music, and his community. From Kultur International Films.

Peter Schickele, maestro of classical music spoofery for several decades, was showcased in a special live concert performance of his invented genius P.D.Q. Bach’s greatest hits. Classical music’s answer to the Marx Brothers gives us, among other tantalizing treasures, Bach’s Trumpet Involuntary movement of Iphigenia in Brooklyn. And be sure to stay for the “Unbegun” Symphony and “Fuga Meshugo.” From Orch.x and Acorn media.

The group’s 20th anniversary one-night-only reunion concert in Las Vegas in 1999 is now available on DVD. Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, and John Entwistle, founding members of the legendary group, appear with Zak Starkey and John “Rabbit” Bundrick in reprises of 14 of their greatest rock hits. From Passport Video and Koch Entertainment.

ACTION BIBLE TOONS and TODDLER TOONS are two new entries in the ThingamaKid animated DVD/CD series for children aged 2 to 5 years. The musical fun is meant for viewing at home or in the car, with video soundtracks in both English and Spanish.

Teachers, parents, and students can all benefit from the new 4-DVD boxed set of AN ADVENTURE INTO THE WORLD OF SCIENCE, PRIMARY SCIENCE for grades K-3, ages 5-8 fromNew Dimension Media and Questar. The set includes Animal Babies (lions, elephants, giraffes, kangaroos); The Seasons and Cycles of Life; Life and Earth Sciences (dinosaurs and fossils, plants, habitats, our Sun); and Physical Science(energy, friction, gravity, machines). Eight hours of the easiest-to-learn science lessons.

Not that I haven’t any movie or television complaints this month, but I’d rather devote this space to something more positive. On behalf of animals everywhere, I hope you will attend a nationwide house party on Sunday October 8 to help the Humane Society Legislative Fund fight for critical animal protection issues on the ballot this November. For example, voters in Arizona will have a chance to fight for more humane treatment of pigs and calves in industrial factory farms, and in Michigan, residents will decide whether to keep a 100-year-old ban on shooting mourning doves, ironically their state bird of peace. Win for Animals house parties will be held in communities all across America. Learn more about them at http://www.fund.org/

I bet you didn't know, but besides reviewing movies, I sing opera. Click here to see and hear me rehearsing the Barcarolle from "Tales of Hoffman."

Maybe you would like to visit my master's web site with highlights of his huge collection of old movie magazines, Bijou Follies
Two more web sites I recommend are: Errol Flynn and Jeffrey Hunter

		October 2006

	by Max (with Walt Oleksy)	view previous issues here