October 2007
	by Max (with Walt Oleksy)	view previous issues here

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MEERKAT MANOR

They’re adorable, cuddly, mischievous, adventurous, sexy, and great family animals. No, not dogs, although we are certainly all that and more. I mean meerkats, those foot-long little darlings who stand on their hind legs and hold their front paws down in front of them as they look about for danger. You can watch their adventures in the Kalahari Desert of Africa on the Discovery Channel and in high definition if you have it, but also on DVD from Discovery.
As one critic says about its drama, “It’s the answer to THE SOPRANOS.”

BLACK BOOK

The Dutch director, Paul Verhoeven, who gave us STARSHIP TROOPERS, ROBOCOP, and other action and war thrillers, far surpasses himself in this new drama about his country’s anti-Nazi resistance in the final days of World War II.
It has ample amounts of war flotsam -- air attacks, narrow escapes, explosions, espionage, murder, prison life. Rachel Stein plays a Jewess trying to elude the Nazis which leads to some romance with a Gestapo officer played by the fine German actor, Sebastian Koch, star of THE LIVES OF OTHERS.
There’s more than enough excitement and intrigue in BLACK BOOK but it shines in its human elements. From Sony Pictures Classics.

MY MOTHER’S COURAGE

More World War II drama in this excellent film based on the novel and play by George Tabori who also narrates the story which is based on his own mother‘s wartime ordeal. His mother tried valiantly to retain her optimism that “so long as she remained a good girl, everything would turn out for the best.” This despite being swept along by the Nazis with most of the other Jews living in Budapest, Hungary in 1944 who are taken by train to Auschwitz. Enroute, she tries to explain to an SS guard that her arrest was a mistake. British actress Pauline Collins gives another outstanding performance as the mother. From BFS Entertainment.

THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY

A lyrical and beautiful film set in the rugged Irish countryside during that country’s guerrilla wars against the British in the early 1920s. Its title comes from the 19th Century ballad by Robert Dwyer Joyce, one stanza of which ends: “The mountain glen/I’ll seek at morning early/And join the brave united men/While soft winds shake the barley.” Cillian Murphy and Padraic Delaney star as brothers in the tragic tale directed by Ken Loach from a screenplay by Paul Laverty that won the golden palm award at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.

GOLDEN DOOR

My master’s mother and her parents and siblings came to America in 1910 from Austria the hard way… they complied with immigration quotas and became legalized American citizens, a far cry from the way many people come to this country today and demand citizenship. THE GOLDEN DOOR tells of an Italian immigrant family in the early 1900s who experience hardships similar to my master’s ancestors. Written and directed by Emanuele Crialese and based upon his family’s poor rural immigration history, from leaving the Old Country to the ocean crossing and arrival at Ellis Island. The film was called NUOVOMONDO in Italy, and the Miramax DVD is in English and Italian, with English subtitles.

NEARING GRACE

A critically-acclaimed coming-of-age film set in 1970s New Jersey, we follow the discontent of a high school dropout, played by Gregory Smith, trapped in a very dysfunctional family. Will his escape to adulthood result in him winning the teenaged seductress Grace, played by Jordana Brewster, who also has eyes on the school football star? Music is from icons of the ‘70s including Bob Dylan, The Grateful Dead, the Velvet Underground, and others. This is not your Gidget teenie bopper kind of movie, but more realistic and true-to-life. From Vivendi Visual Entertainment.

THE RUTH RENDELL MYSTERIES SETS 1 & 2

It's a welcome change to watch mysteries without detectives or anyone else trying to solve a crime. The mysteries simply unfold and build to an unexpected conclusion. Fine story-telling and acting in these unusual suspense tales usually based upon family relationships that often end in murder. Based upon the novels of British author Ruth Rendell, they were first seen on Brit television. Among my favorites are MAY AND JUNE in which sibling rivalry among sisters leads to some nasty goings-on, BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION, with James D‘Arcy as a troubled teenager in love with a married woman who is found murdered, and Colin Firth as MASTER OF THE MOOR whose reclusive life in the desolate countryside becomes enmeshed in murder and madness. Some of the most engrossing mysteries I’ve seen in a long time. Set 1 came out last February and set 2 is now available, both from Acorn Media.

DA VINCI’S INQUEST, SEASON 2

Not anything about the overblown Da Vinci Quest media madness, but the complete second season of the British television series. Nicholas Campbell stars as Dominic Da Vinci, a charismatic if controversial coroner in Vancouver, British Columbia. A former cop, he employs the expertise of criminologists, pathologists, and police as well as his own hard-nosed detecting to learn the truth behind some suspicious deaths. Winner of more than 35 awards in its first four seasons, the DVDs are from Acorn Media.

THE MASTERPIECE THEATRE FAMILY COLLECTION

An excellent boxed set of DVDs that runs seven hours showcases some recent Masterpiece Theatre classics. POLLYANNA stars Georgina Terry as the orphan who moves in with her embittered Aunt Polly, played by Amanda Burton, who refuses to look on the brighter side of life. THE RAILWAY CHILDREN stars Jenny Agutter in the drama of a mother and her three children coping with the mystery of her missing husband and their father. CARRIE’S WAR tells of two young teenage British siblings evacuated to a rural village in Wales during World War II. GOODBYE, MR. CHIPS stars Martin Clunes in a new telling of the James Hilton story of the life and career of a British boys’ school teacher. All wonderful stories for the whole family, from WGBH Boston Video.

STRUMPET CITY

Dublin, Ireland in the early 1900s, rife with inhumane living and working conditions, is the setting of this strong drama based on James Plunkett’s historical novel. Called one of the best Irish novels of the last century, the troubled times are recreated focusing on the Dublin Lockout of 1913, one of the country’s most famous and devastating labor uprisings. Stars are Cyril Cusack, Frank Grimes, David Kelly, and Bryan Murray, with guest appearances by Peter O’Toole and Peter Ustinov. The digitally remastered
3-DVD boxed set is from Acorn Media.

THURSDAY THE 12th

Just about everyone has a motive for murder in this thriller starring Ciaran Hinds and Elizabeth McGovern, and they include greed, sex, politics, and revenge. You’ll be kept guessing who did it in this 2-DVD mystery thriller set from BFS Entertainment.

ROUTE 66

The hit TV series of the early 1960s starring Martin Milner and George Maharis rides the road again on DVD from Infinity Entertainment. It’s great fun for nostalgia TV fans, with its catchy Nelson Riddle theme song and dramatic stories as the two young men take a 1960 powder-blue Chevrolet Corvette onto the open road in the ultimate American journey. Guest stars include Robert Redford, Ron Howard, Robert Duvall, Walter Matthau, Suzanne Pleshette and others looking like the young actors they were back then.

SPIKE JONES, THE LEGEND

Can’t you just hear the music bottles and washboards of comedic bandleader Spike Jones and the City Slickers that tickled our music funny bones in the late 1940s? It all comes back to us in this nearly three-hour DVD highlighting the career and music of Spike and his zany band. The 3-DVD fun is from Infinity Entertainment that includes a bonus audio CD containing two pilot radio shows from 1945 never before made available.

BARGAIN OLDIES

Some classics and other oldies that are worth seeing again or for the first time can be in your home DVD collection at bargain prices in a new series of boxed sets from American Home Treasures and BFS Entertainment. They come in sets of 4 DVDs per box containing 12 full-length movies for $14.98 each. The sets include:
MYSTERY MOVIES with Vincent Price, Basil Rathbone and others; SCARY MOVIES with Jack Nicholson, Boris Karloff, and others; MAFIA & MOB MOVIES with Steve McQueen, William Shatner and others; WESTERN MOVIES with John Wayne, Roy Rogers and others; and WORLD WAR II MOVIES with David Niven, Robert Mitchum and others. Other sets are HORROR MOVIES, FIGHTING MOVIES with Bruce Lee favorites, and PAST & PRESENT MOVIES with pirate and science-fiction films.

RALPH S. MOUSE

More children’s picture books transported to DVD from the Scholastic Video Collection. This edition features Beverly Cleary’s delightful best-selling book in which a mouse named Ralph goes to school; artist-writer Syd Hoff’s STANLEY AND THE DINOSAURS; and Arnold Lobel’s UNCLE ELEPHANT in which a baby elephant visits his uncle while his parents are away. Delightful, whimsical picture stories for ages 4 to 11.

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES

Season 1 of the popular children’s TV animated series updated from the 1984 comics. Lots of action for young viewers, from Mirage Studios, 4Kids TV, and Funimation Entertainment.

BABY ROAD TRIP CIRCUS, SHAPES
Children aged 6 months and up will be delighted with this DVD visit to a circus featuring acrobats, animals and children clowning around as a puppeteer teaches lessons in shapes set to circus and carnival music. From ConsumerVision.

Ken Burns’ THE WAR, his monumental new docudrama about World War II that was shown recently on PBS-TV, is now available on DVD in a boxed set.
My master and I watched the first 2.5 hours on TV and agree with critics that it is an excellent addition to the already vast historical record of that “just” if not “good war.” However, I found the background music to be extremely intrusive and annoying. I’m not referring to the bits of 1940s popular songs that were sparsely played, but the modern classical music which was atonal and very loud and often just screechy violins. My master and I are lovers of classical music, but not what music academics today are obsessed with that has no melody but is merely mathematical. Such music was not needed to heighten the drama of the war visuals. The images were drama enough.