March 2009
	by Max (with Walt Oleksy)	view previous issues here

Okay, the Oscars are over for the best of last year, now let’s see what Hollywood comes up with for the next Oscar show in 2010. Last year’s winners will be on DVD real soon, but there are some good also-rans to see now.

Click on small photos for larger views

AUSTRALIA

You have to say this for Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge, Romeo + Juliet). He tries. His epic has two huge international stars who got their starts as Aussie favorites… Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. Both actors show a lot of sexual heat in this Down Under marathon of sun, dust, guns, and sex. It’s almost three hours long, but worth the time,
especially for those who appreciate Jackman with his shirt off. A top magazine didn’t name him “Sexiest Man of the Year” for nothing. Rent or buy this one on DVD or Blu-Ray from 20th Century Fox and you’ll spend a worthwhile evening at home in front of the telly.

ASHES OF TIME REDUX

Redux means “doing it again, but better.” The Chinese classic didn’t get much attention when originally released in 1994, but this new re-edited, restored, digitally colorized and re-scored version is a big improvement and packs a lot of adventure. It was director Wong Kar Wai’s first film, telling of a heartbroken and cynical desert wanderer who teaches men to become expert swordsmen so they can use the weapon and their talents in revenge. There’s sin but also redemption here, and we learn why the hero’s fear of rejection led him to a life of exile. In Cantonese with English subtitles, from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

I SERVED THE KING OF ENGLAND

Jiri Menzel, who directed the Academy Award best foreign film Oscar winner Closely Watched Trains (1968) returns in top form with this story of a man who rises from rags to riches at a pre-World War II luxury spa in Czechoslovakia.
Like the young man in SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, he dreams of becoming a millionaire while working at the spa, and they start to come true when he marries a Hitler-loving fraulein. I won’t give away more of the plot because it’s a good story worth following in Czech with English subtitles.
What did he serve the King of England? Be surprised, see this gem from Sony Pictures Classics.

MULLIGAN

Just for laughs, and golfers, this is a lightweight romp in the CADDYSHACK mold. Four guys putt and putz on the links with some pretty girls and cans of beer. Just what it is, a golf comedy, and that’s not bad. From Indiewood and Osiris.

SCREAMERS: THE HUNTING

A futuristic thriller to please action and sci-fi fans, it’s the further adventures from the cult hit SCREAMERS.
Lance Henriksen (TERMINATOR and ALIENS) gets back into the swing of things with whatever lethal weapon at hand, this time going to the planet Sirius 6B that was destroyed in the earlier film, to answer a distress signal from what might be a long-lost colony of human survivors. Or are they? From Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

DARK REEL

You’d think it was Halloween, with yet another horror-thriller just released on DVD. Popular when shown at thirteen film festivals, this is a “blissfully bloody” horror film for fans of that genre (not me or my master).
Edward Furlong, one of the best of Hollywood’s young actors, stars with Lance Henricksen in some mayhem on a movie set. From North American Motion Pictures.

JOHN STEINBECK’S EAST OF EDEN

The James Dean movie only told about a third of the story of the Trask family in California’s Salinas Valley farm country. Based upon the classic novel of the conflict between good and evil by John Steinbeck, the prize-winning 1981 television miniseries told the complete saga of the family from the Civil War through World War I. Finally, it is available on DVD, in a handsome restored edition. Stars are Jane Seymour, Timothy Bottoms, Hart Bochner, Karen Allen, Bruce Boxleitner, Lloyd Bridges, and Anne Baxter. Seymour, veteran of some terrific miniseries, recently told Oprah Winfrey that playing the strong-willed, independent Cathy was her favorite role. The boxed set of 3 DVDs holds three episodes running a total of six hours. This is wonderful story-telling and acting, from Acorn Media.

THE SHIRALEE

AUSTRALIA whetted my appetite to chew on another Down Under bone. This Australian television miniseries kept me happily gnawing for hours. A little more than three, to be exact. Bryan Brown plays a divorced, gruff, independent traveling laborer who finds himself straddled with a “shiralee,” Aussie for burden. It’s his nine-year-old daughter, played by Rebecca Smart. The time and place is the 1940s and 1950s in the outback. The odd couple meet an even odder assortment of characters on their travels which evolve into a strong father-daughter bond. Based on D’Arcy Niland’s 1955 novel, the story packs lots of emotion and some humor. The 2-DVD boxed set is from Acorn Media.

MIDSOMER MURDERS, SET 12

This incredibly long-running popular British detective series has kept crime fans entertained for twelve seasons.
The new boxed set of surprising mysteries and quirky characters holds four mysteries, starring John Nettles, Jason Hughes, and a strong supporting cast. Did the lady on trial kill her best friend? Who murdered the mystery man found dead in an isle of a new and unwanted supermarket? Who did in the tenor of the town’s amateur choir? And what’s it all about in Four Funerals and a Wedding? Midsomer Murders Set 12 lives up to its promise, from British television and Acorn Media.

SUSPENSE: THE LOST EPISODES

Collection 3 of the classic television series exploring the bizarre and terrifying contains episodes believed to have been lost forever, but which were eventually found. One episode was written by Rod Serling of THE TWILIGHT ZONE.
Stories star some very famous names including Boris Karloff, George Reeves, Jackie Cooper, Lloyd Bridges, Jayne Meadows, and Walter Matthau. Great entertainment to chill out with from the Golden Age of Radio and Television. From Falcon Picture Group and Infinity Entertainment.

CRACKER, COMPLETE COLLECTION

The complete collection of 11 mysteries in a 10-DVD boxed set is terrific crime drama, a combination of modern psychology and suspense. Robbie Coltrane stars as a forensic psychologist with problems of his own who takes on crime-solving. All three seasons that ran on television from 1993 to 1995 are in this collection, one of British television’s most acclaimed drama series. The stories are aided by a strong supporting cast including Christopher Eccleston, Barbara Flynn, and guest star Robert Carlyle.
A real treat for detective fans, from Acorn Media.

TRIAL & RETRIBUTION, SET 2

More Brit mayhem and mystery in four crime dramas from Lynda La Plante, creator of the PRIME SUSPECT series, which debuted on British television in 1997. David Hayman is back as Detective Chief Inspector Mike Walker, with Kate Buffery as his fellow sleuth and love partner. The supporting cast is top-notch, including Gemma Jones who was fabulous as THE DUCHESS OF DUKE STREET, and Ben Cross of
CHARIOTS OF FIRE. Set 2 contains four two-part episodes which run 180 minutes each. From Acorn Media.

THE F WORD

No, not the one you might first think of. In this case it stands for food. It’s series two of the culinary adventures of Gordon Ramsay, the Brits’ chef extraordinary who recruits passionate amateurs to help him in the kitchen, showing viewers how to make easy-to-learn gourmet dishes. As seen on BBC America and the Food Channel, this is fun entertainment and food lovers’ delight. A 3 DVD boxed set from BFS Entertainment.

RAMSAY’S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES

More Gordon Ramsey in the kitchen, the complete series one of the popular Brit television series. A 2-DVD boxed set includes eight episodes in which Ramsey visits three restaurants on the brink to see if his shock treatment from earlier visits has helped keep them open and thrive. From Acorn Media.

STEPHEN HAWKING AND THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING

Most of us hate a know-it-all, but I at least make an exception in Stephen Hawking, the world’s most famous living physicist. With the help of computer graphics and everyday analogies, the acclaimed author of A Brief History of Time discusses black holes, the time-space continuum, and new thoughts on the origin of the universe. Not your every-day coffee break stuff, but totally engrossing at night on DVD. It’s pretty amazing how Hawking, a wheelchair-bound victim of Lou Gehrig’s disease, can make even the most mind-boggling scientific concepts understandable, through his friendly, casual style.
Wonderful science from Acorn Media.

THE STORY OF INDIA

British historian Michael Wood never fails to give television viewers insights into history around the globe. His latest exploration of India was recently seen on Public Television and is now on DVD from PBS Home Video. Wood travels the land of history and myth, revealing its opulence and poverty, spiritualism and science, as well as its long struggle for independence from British colonial rule and the aftermath of that historic adventure.

LIGHT AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD

This four-part television series from the Smithsonian Channel searched for the disappearing cultures of Peru, Polynesia, the Himalayas, and the Arctic. Host Wade Davis, noted anthropologist, ethno botanist, and conservationist (phew, what a mouthful for a six-year old Lab!), warns that once a civilization is gone, like an extinct animal, it never will return. So we see what’s left now of some of the globe’s most endangered human species. On DVD from Smithsonian Networks and Infinity Entertainment Group.

AMERICA’S HANGAR

Smithsonian Networks takes an intriguing look at the history of flight, from the first man-made aircraft in 1896 to the Wright Brothers, Amelia Earhart and Chuck Yeager to Astronauts such as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in 1969.
The documentary takes us inside the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum, known as “America’s Hangar.” The DVD is from Smithsonian Networks and Infinity Entertainment.

THE BIBLE’S BURIED SECREETS

The two-hour NOVA television special seen last month on Public Television takes a scientific and historical trip probing the truth behind some of the Bible mysteries that have stumped scholars for centuries. Where did the ancient Israelites come from, who wrote the Bible, when and why?,
are a few of the mysteries investigated. We can understand more about the troubles in the Middle East and Holy Land from watching this fascinating DVD documentary from WGBH Boston Video.

PORTRAIT OF PETULA CLARK

Now why not lighten up watching a new DVD of the life and career of the 1960s songbird. The disc includes a fond look back at the pop music world of 1969, filmed in Paris, London, Geneva, New York, and San Francisco. Andy Williams is a guest star, singing solo and in duet with Petula.
Entertaining music nostalgia from Infinity Entertainment.

One of the most popular television shows for pre-schoolers on PBS Kids, DRAGON TALES returns to DVD with a delightful edition called OUR AMAZING PETS. Kids learn how to care for a wide range of pets and visit with some very special pets in Dragon Land. Fun and educational from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

CRITTER QUEST! takes kids on a backyard safari to discover what fuzzy, slimy, squirmy, gilled, winged and multi-legged creatures live there. Great wildlife exploration right outside the back door, from Smithsonian Networks and Infinity Entertainment.

HAPPILY EVER AFTER has Strawberry Shortcake enjoying visits with her friends in magical tales including “Sleeping Beauty.” Fun for young girls from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.

LIONSGATE has more new DVD releases featuring some of kids’ favorite characters.

HIT FAVORITES: HERE COMES SPRING has most of them in one collection: Barney, Thomas & Friends. Bob the Builder, Fireman Sam, Kipper, and Fifi and the Flowertots. Spring fun for pre-schoolers from HiT Entertainment.

More Lionsgate individual DVDs include:
THOMAS & FRIENDS: High Speed Adventures; THOMAS & FRIENDS: Railway Friends; BOB THE BUILDER ON SITE: Skyscrapers; BARNEY’S TOP 20 COUNTDOWN; SHAUN THE SHEEP: Back in the Ba-a-ath; and FRANCES: BEDTIME FOR FRANCES.

HOW’D THEY BUILD THAT? is a new DVD showing how two very familiar vehicles are built: “School Bus” and “Concrete Truck.” Kids are taken on exclusive behind-the-scenes tours of some of the nation’s most famous assembly plants to see how these vehicles are built. From Marvelous Media.