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12/12/2015DVDs: Inside Llewyn Davis, Anchorman 2 and Hank Williams | Evernote Web
https://www.evernote.com/Home.action#n=d10d659e-4e4f-4dab-9675-260cb008b78c&ses=4&sh=2&sds=5&1/5DVDs: Inside Llewyn Davis, Anchorman 2 andHank WilliamsDVDs: Inside Llewyn Davis, Anchorman 2 and Hank WilliamsDisney Animation's biggest hit ever, a look at folk music that improves with repeated viewing, Joseph Gordon-Levitt's most important role and two intriguing music releases are all out this week. Here we go.FROZEN ($ BluRay combo; Disney) SAVING MR. BANKS ($ BluRay combo; Disney) -- The Disney Animation division -- as opposed to Pixar -- hadbeen stumbling for many years and was almost closed. That all turned around with the creative and solidcommercial success of Tangled. And now the revival is complete with Frozen, already the highest-grossing non-Pixar animated film in history and in a few weeks it might own the crown outright. How did that happen? I'm notsure. But every element of Frozen is pretty good: the story is pretty good, the songs are pretty good, theanimation is pretty good, the comic relief is pretty good and it all added up to a solid, entertaining movie. Wait, Iforgot one element: the voice work. Here is the strongest suit of Frozen: Idina Menzel is satisfying as as thecursed sister with the arctic touch, Josh Gad is dorkily amusing as a snowman brought to life (a scenario I wascringing over in advance but worked well), Santino Fontana is very good as Hans during the fumbling meet-cutewith a princess (though even he can't quite convince on the big switcheroo), Jonathan Groff has great leadingman poise and comic timing as Kristoff and Kristen Bell above all shines as Anna. Bell's performance is adelight. Their work is what gives this very familiar tale with a few abrupt twists heart and charm. When it comesto mixed messages, it's hard to top Menzel's Elsa strutting towards the camera looking like a supermodel whileproclaiming she's going to accept and own her imperfections! And "Let It Go" -- is it just me or do the lyricssound like a manifesto for a sociopath? "No right, no wrong, no rules for me/ I'm free...You'll never see me cry"and so on. Um, it's okay to show emotions and actually right and wrong are pretty important concepts. I kid! Themessage is clearly intended to be one of empowerment and not placing limits on yourself to fit in and so on. Andit clearly clicked. This is far from the greatest Disney animated film (personally, I even like Tangled more), but it'sa welcome return to box office form nonetheless.I doubt it, but maybe someday we'll see a movie about the making of Frozen, what it meant to Kristen Bell'scareer (hopefully, giving Veronica far more interesting opportunities), watching the husband and wife songwritingteam develop "Let It Go" in Prospect Park in Brooklyn, seeing the emotional lift it gave to an entire company andso on. Hey, it could happen. They might even have to manufacture some drama, which is exactly the problemwith Saving Mr. Banks. Half the movie is an amusing and relatively accurate look at Walt Disney (Tom Hanks)wooing P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson) to convince her to sign over the rights to Mary Poppins. Much of thefilm shows her giving prickly feedback to the script and the songs (by the great Sherman Brothers) and evensketches for the look of the sets and costumes. It's all based on audio recordings made at the time whereTravers does indeed come across as a disapproving schoolmarm. It's a modest story but Thompson is alwaysso appealing -- and so very good as a grump -- that it's fun...until they spoil it with a maudlin and inaccuratefinale where Travers is moved to tears during the premiere of the film. (In fact, she disliked it and wanted plentyof changes.) Worse, huge chunks of the movie involve heart-tugging flashbacks to her childhood where adrunken father (played well by Colin Farrell) sinks into the mire. These are shot in the pretty, classic Disneyfamily film style of the 1970s, a bizarre contrast to the sad story they're trying to tell. Cut all that out and you'dhave a perfectly pleasant if misleading movie that for a while does a pretty good job of showing the early stages
12/12/2015DVDs: Inside Llewyn Davis, Anchorman 2 and Hank Williams | Evernote Web
https://www.evernote.com/Home.action#n=d10d659e-4e4f-4dab-9675-260cb008b78c&ses=4&sh=2&sds=5&2/5of a classic's development. And for what it's worth, I love children's books but the Poppins series is not a favoriteat all. The first book is the best and the rest increasingly scattered and ineffective; the movie -- and JulieAndrews -- improved on it immensely.INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS ($35.99 BluRay; Sony) AMERICAN HUSTLE ($40.99 BluRay combo; Sony) -- Like many films that stand the test of time, Inside LlewynDavis bears repeated viewing. I liked it immediately when seeing the film in theaters (though I hated the look ofthe opening scene and took a while to get into it), I liked the soundtrack and I liked a lot of the performances.Oscar Isaac is great as a struggling folk singer who has good taste in songs, but is terrible and managing hisown career and lacks "it," that special something that lets you connect with an audience. When his friends(played by Justin Timberlake, Carey Mulligan and Stark Sands) take to the stage for an impromptu version of"500 Miles" and the entire audience in the coffeehouse starts singing along, Davis looks around with a befuddledlook on his face. He had just performed a song (and quite well); it got polite applause. But the warmth from thecrowd, the spontaneous joining in -- how does that happen, what did they do, what did I not do? It's all rightthere in that one moment. But the final death knell for Davis will be the arrival of Bob Dylan, who changed all therules permanently. The movie charts a meandering period as the realization that he's just not going to make it inthe business dawns upon Davis, a hard moment for anyone who pursues a creative life. One scene -- with F.Murray Abraham -- is particularly devastating. In general, Davis is pleasingly contradictory. He is absolutelytalented and worth listening to but his life is overshadowed in part by the suicide of his former singing partner.Davis may never recover artistically from that loss and certainly feels the pain personally. He's a mess withwomen (though not cruel), he's difficult with the hangers-on who give him a place to crash but expect him toliterally sing for his supper, hell he can't even keep track of a damn cat. The movie is great-looking and thesoundtrack holds up. More interestingly, I've had more stimulating discussions of this movie than anything elsethis year: Is Davis the real talent and his friends (a faux Peter, Paul & Mary in the making) the sell-outs? Or theother way around? Is John Goodman great or coasting on his blustery big-man persona? Does Davis give up orface reality? Did Dylan take folk music to a new level or crush it under his feet on the way to pop success? It'ssomewhat disappointing that this release didn't include the concert film that has been put out separately, but ithas an informative making-of and looks and sounds great.In contrast, I find American Hustle almost embarrassing. David O. Russell's early work was distinctive and fresh.Three Kings is a terrific war film, both universal and telling in its details. But he's hit new peaks of commercialand critical success just as his films become less interesting and original. The Fighter didn't convince. SilverLinings Playbook I actually sort of liked against my better judgment. But American Hustle - inspired by theABSCAM scandal of the 1970s -- is an utter flop. Its aping of Martin Scorsese is so overt and relentless, I wasalmost embarrassed for it and Russell. The constant battering with pop songs (you can only push buttons somany times), the structure, the storytelling gimmicks...on and on it went. The movie felt more like a gradstudent's final project than a feature film by a director seven features into his career. Truly, the actors are not atfault. Indeed, somehow I think they were all good to very good despite a script and direction that kept the filmoverall from being anything more than an exercise in imitation. When you watch it again on BluRay or a year ortwo from now, you're going to feel hustled by this exercise in style.MYSTERIOUS SKIN ($29.99 BluRay; Strand Releasing) THE HIDDEN FORTRESS ($39.95 BluRay combo; Criterion) -- Mysterious Skin is one of the best films of the2000s. This BluRay presents the film in excellent condition and with some key extras demonstrating howimportant this film was to everyone involved. It's a career peak for director Gregg Araki and the best adaptationof Scott Heim's best novel. But above all it helped Joseph Gordon-Levitt rise from his TV sitcom roots to betaken seriously as an actor and set him on the path towards the eclectic and increasingly promising career he'son today. The story is a disturbing tale of two young men linked by...something. One of them is convinced hewas abducted by aliens and that's why there are gaps in his memory. The other (JGL) is a hustler and knows all
12/12/2015DVDs: Inside Llewyn Davis, Anchorman 2 and Hank Williams | Evernote Web
https://www.evernote.com/Home.action#n=d10d659e-4e4f-4dab-9675-260cb008b78c&ses=4&sh=2&sds=5&3/5too well they were molested by the coach of their baseball team. It's evocative, funny, sexy, scary and a genuineindependent film. Don't miss it.Another masterpiece gets a fresh new presentation from Criterion. Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress canbe sold to kids as partial inspiration for Star Wars. (If you need proof, there's a brief interview with George Lucasin th extras.) In truth, of course, it's a rousing adventure tale with some hilarious comic relief and one of themaster's pure entertainments. Toshiro Mifune is a general trying to shepherd a princess, two bumblingassistants and a hoard of treasure through enemy territory and you won't catch your breath for more than twohours. This BluRay/DVD combo set isn't just an excuse for repackaging: the film looks tremendous. Despiterevivals and earlier editions, it's pretty amazing to think this is the best The Hidden Fortress has ever looked,certainly in the home. Another essential from Criterion. Enjoy!MONSTERS: THE COMPLETE SERIES ($99.98 DVD: Entertainment One) ATLANTIS SEASON ONE ($39.98 BluRay; BBC Home Entertainment) -- I wish I was a bigger fan of horror andother offbeat anthology shows. Even when major series fall through the cracks, weird shows that most of ushave never heard of get presented with loving care on DVD. Enter Monsters, the show from the same folksbehind Tales From The Darkside. Launched in 1988, they made 72 episodes and gave work to everyone fromSteve Buscemi and Linda Blair to Adrienne Barbeau and Deborah Harry. And Tempestt Bledsoe. And MeatLoaf! And Tom Noonan! And Gina Gershon! And Jerry Stiller! And Pam Grier...and Chris Noth...and RobMorrow...and Tony Shalhoub. Yes, as the list of guest stars goes on, you realize there's a lot of interesting talentthat had fun dashing off a 45 minute episode of Monsters. This was a surprisingly strong genre in the 1980s,what with this and TFDS and Tales From the Crypt and Friday The 13th TV series and surely some others I'mforgetting. I'm not informed enough to distinguish this from the others (though it seems to have a tad more sci-fielements on tap than most), but it looks good and apparently all the original music is intact. No extras to speakof, but if you're like me, when the show is a favorite that's not nearly as important as getting to see the episodesexactly how they were originally presented.Just like Monsters is from the people behind Tales From The Darkside, Atlantis is from the people behind Merlin.That series was a prequel of sorts to the Arthurian legend. Atlantis, on the other hand, is a bizarre mishmash ofa series, with heroes tossed in from Greek myth or history, the setting of Atlantis adding nothing to theproceedings and a time traveling Jason (Jack Donnelly) who is stranded back in time (or in an alternateuniverse) but never references this fact again and is soon a dashing swordsman and hero. Blessed comic reliefis provided by Mark Addy as a washed-up Hercules. It makes literally no sense in the least -- not the setting, notthe jumble of figures, not much of anything -- but if you miss Xena and Hercules and Merlin, this will do I'llsuppose.ANCHORMAN 2: THE LEGEND CONTINUES ($39.99 BluRay combo; Paramount) THE BOOK THIEF ($39.99 BluRay; Fox) -- Anchorman 2 managed the tricky feat of being promoted to the hiltand yet coming so long after the original that expectations were still somehow muted. It was fine, for fans whoreally wanted a little more Anchorman. But the air of being wholly unnecessary never quite left the project. It's apity more thought wasn't put into the film instead of the cleverly relentless promotional campaign in which theactors were seemingly everywhere and doing everything to bring attention to the film. The final clever touch wasto re-release the film into theaters in the newly cut R version they had prepared for the DVD and tout the factthat it now has 763 new jokes! Genius, but the genius starts and stops there and it's purely of the Barnum sort.Mind you, it worked. The sequel nearly doubled the worldwide box office of the original.The Book Thief has literally nothing in common with Anchorman 2. In fact, it may be the polar opposite. One is acomedy and the other is a drama. One is the sequel to an original comedy. The other is based on a best-sellingyoung adult novel set during World War II when a family is hiding a Jew in their cellar from the Nazis. One was ahit. The other was a flop. One had low expectations. The other -- with the pedigree of its talent and the acclaim
12/12/2015DVDs: Inside Llewyn Davis, Anchorman 2 and Hank Williams | Evernote Web
https://www.evernote.com/Home.action#n=d10d659e-4e4f-4dab-9675-260cb008b78c&ses=4&sh=2&sds=5&4/5for the novel -- was touted as the sort of film that had Oscar written all over it. One can learn lessons fromAnchorman 2, lessons in marketing at least. It's hard to think of any lessons to learn from The Book Thief, whichwas nobly made with the best intentions and for whatever reason fell far short.SAMSON AND DELILAH ($24.99 BluRay; Paramount) -- At least once a decade from the 1920s to the 1950s,director Cecil B. DeMille made a Biblical epic. Spectacle! Pageantry! Skin! (Not too much, but enough.) Oh itwas always nonsense, but Victor Mature and Hedy Lamarr make two of the stiffest leads imaginable in this over-ripe silliness. All the people complaining about the Biblical accuracy of Noah should really be more worriedabout a good movie. You can reach more people with an entertaining tale and still get the Word across. Case inpoint -- Biblical epics like these that add lots of inaccurate fluff but boy do they bring in the people. This BluRayedition looks great, by the way. You can almost forget the dreadful acting.THE DUKES OF SEPTEMBER ($24.98 BluRay; 429 Records) YOU ARE THERE ($19.99 DVD; Shanachie) -- Two offbeat music releases round out this column. The DukesOf September is a super group comprised of Donald Fagen, Michael McDonald and Boz Scaggs. They've beentouring around for years, delivering their hits and some choice covers with impeccable elan. One of theirconcerts was turned into a 90 minute concert for PBS that has proved very popular during pledge drive. It'sfinally come out on BluRay. Unfortunately this is just the 90 minute special seen on PBS and not a longer cutfeaturing an entire concert or featuring extras with them commenting on each other's career. Still, it's an amiablenight with some excellent musicianship.You Are There is a genuine curio. There is no information, but it's a collection of live performances from somecountry legends captured on 35mm in color (mostly) back in the very early 1950s. The setting is clearly a TVseries of some sort, a country variety show set in a barn where performers would take turns performing,punctuated by square dances, comic numbers and a sing-along at the end of each show. I've no idea what showit might or when it aired, but you can see some of these acts returned on more than one occasion (they'rewearing different outfits, for example). This 52 minute disc contains 24 musical numbers and four hoe-downs.The picture and sound quality is variable but it's mostly pretty good, albeit the colors are a tad muted at times. Itbegins with the legendary Bill Monroe, a legend of bluegrass, performing "Close By" with his band. You'll findfive other Monroe performances, two by the Louvin Brothers and assorted others as well, most of whom I'venever heard of at all. I do recognize Grandpa Jones and his bushy mustache but Stringbean was new to me.(His gimmick is to emphasize his height by wearing pants so low down they could teach homeboys a thing ortwo.) There's also Lonzo and Oscar (who offer comic relief along with their numbers) and a few others that moreinformed might know, along with very brief appearances by Kitty Wells and Faron Young in sing-alongs. Thefinal treasure is four very rough, black and white performances by Hank Williams. The picture quality is morevariable here but it's great fun to see him live in person. His gloomy persona looms large so it's a surprise to seehim looking amiable and duded up in flashy sequined suits. "Cold Cold Heart" drags a bit but his intro ishilariously corn-pone and a duet with Anita Carter is intriguing. For diehard fans of classic country music, theserare glimpses of legends (and a lot of others) will hold some interest.Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the founder and CEO of BookFilter, a book lover's best friend. It's a websitethat lets you browse for books online the way you do in a physical bookstore, provides comprehensive info onnew releases every week in every category and offers passionate personal recommendations every step of theway. It's like a fall book preview or holiday gift guide -- but every week in every category. He's also the cohost ofShowbiz Sandbox, a weekly pop culture podcast that reveals the industry take on entertainment news of the dayand features top journalists and opinion makers as guests. It's available for free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz athis website and his daily blog.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 he receives far more titles than he
https://www.evernote.com/Home.action#n=d10d659e-4e4f-4dab-9675-260cb008b78c&ses=4&sh=2&sds=5&1/5DVDs: Inside Llewyn Davis, Anchorman 2 andHank WilliamsDVDs: Inside Llewyn Davis, Anchorman 2 and Hank WilliamsDisney Animation's biggest hit ever, a look at folk music that improves with repeated viewing, Joseph Gordon-Levitt's most important role and two intriguing music releases are all out this week. Here we go.FROZEN ($ BluRay combo; Disney) SAVING MR. BANKS ($ BluRay combo; Disney) -- The Disney Animation division -- as opposed to Pixar -- hadbeen stumbling for many years and was almost closed. That all turned around with the creative and solidcommercial success of Tangled. And now the revival is complete with Frozen, already the highest-grossing non-Pixar animated film in history and in a few weeks it might own the crown outright. How did that happen? I'm notsure. But every element of Frozen is pretty good: the story is pretty good, the songs are pretty good, theanimation is pretty good, the comic relief is pretty good and it all added up to a solid, entertaining movie. Wait, Iforgot one element: the voice work. Here is the strongest suit of Frozen: Idina Menzel is satisfying as as thecursed sister with the arctic touch, Josh Gad is dorkily amusing as a snowman brought to life (a scenario I wascringing over in advance but worked well), Santino Fontana is very good as Hans during the fumbling meet-cutewith a princess (though even he can't quite convince on the big switcheroo), Jonathan Groff has great leadingman poise and comic timing as Kristoff and Kristen Bell above all shines as Anna. Bell's performance is adelight. Their work is what gives this very familiar tale with a few abrupt twists heart and charm. When it comesto mixed messages, it's hard to top Menzel's Elsa strutting towards the camera looking like a supermodel whileproclaiming she's going to accept and own her imperfections! And "Let It Go" -- is it just me or do the lyricssound like a manifesto for a sociopath? "No right, no wrong, no rules for me/ I'm free...You'll never see me cry"and so on. Um, it's okay to show emotions and actually right and wrong are pretty important concepts. I kid! Themessage is clearly intended to be one of empowerment and not placing limits on yourself to fit in and so on. Andit clearly clicked. This is far from the greatest Disney animated film (personally, I even like Tangled more), but it'sa welcome return to box office form nonetheless.I doubt it, but maybe someday we'll see a movie about the making of Frozen, what it meant to Kristen Bell'scareer (hopefully, giving Veronica far more interesting opportunities), watching the husband and wife songwritingteam develop "Let It Go" in Prospect Park in Brooklyn, seeing the emotional lift it gave to an entire company andso on. Hey, it could happen. They might even have to manufacture some drama, which is exactly the problemwith Saving Mr. Banks. Half the movie is an amusing and relatively accurate look at Walt Disney (Tom Hanks)wooing P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson) to convince her to sign over the rights to Mary Poppins. Much of thefilm shows her giving prickly feedback to the script and the songs (by the great Sherman Brothers) and evensketches for the look of the sets and costumes. It's all based on audio recordings made at the time whereTravers does indeed come across as a disapproving schoolmarm. It's a modest story but Thompson is alwaysso appealing -- and so very good as a grump -- that it's fun...until they spoil it with a maudlin and inaccuratefinale where Travers is moved to tears during the premiere of the film. (In fact, she disliked it and wanted plentyof changes.) Worse, huge chunks of the movie involve heart-tugging flashbacks to her childhood where adrunken father (played well by Colin Farrell) sinks into the mire. These are shot in the pretty, classic Disneyfamily film style of the 1970s, a bizarre contrast to the sad story they're trying to tell. Cut all that out and you'dhave a perfectly pleasant if misleading movie that for a while does a pretty good job of showing the early stages
12/12/2015DVDs: Inside Llewyn Davis, Anchorman 2 and Hank Williams | Evernote Web
https://www.evernote.com/Home.action#n=d10d659e-4e4f-4dab-9675-260cb008b78c&ses=4&sh=2&sds=5&2/5of a classic's development. And for what it's worth, I love children's books but the Poppins series is not a favoriteat all. The first book is the best and the rest increasingly scattered and ineffective; the movie -- and JulieAndrews -- improved on it immensely.INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS ($35.99 BluRay; Sony) AMERICAN HUSTLE ($40.99 BluRay combo; Sony) -- Like many films that stand the test of time, Inside LlewynDavis bears repeated viewing. I liked it immediately when seeing the film in theaters (though I hated the look ofthe opening scene and took a while to get into it), I liked the soundtrack and I liked a lot of the performances.Oscar Isaac is great as a struggling folk singer who has good taste in songs, but is terrible and managing hisown career and lacks "it," that special something that lets you connect with an audience. When his friends(played by Justin Timberlake, Carey Mulligan and Stark Sands) take to the stage for an impromptu version of"500 Miles" and the entire audience in the coffeehouse starts singing along, Davis looks around with a befuddledlook on his face. He had just performed a song (and quite well); it got polite applause. But the warmth from thecrowd, the spontaneous joining in -- how does that happen, what did they do, what did I not do? It's all rightthere in that one moment. But the final death knell for Davis will be the arrival of Bob Dylan, who changed all therules permanently. The movie charts a meandering period as the realization that he's just not going to make it inthe business dawns upon Davis, a hard moment for anyone who pursues a creative life. One scene -- with F.Murray Abraham -- is particularly devastating. In general, Davis is pleasingly contradictory. He is absolutelytalented and worth listening to but his life is overshadowed in part by the suicide of his former singing partner.Davis may never recover artistically from that loss and certainly feels the pain personally. He's a mess withwomen (though not cruel), he's difficult with the hangers-on who give him a place to crash but expect him toliterally sing for his supper, hell he can't even keep track of a damn cat. The movie is great-looking and thesoundtrack holds up. More interestingly, I've had more stimulating discussions of this movie than anything elsethis year: Is Davis the real talent and his friends (a faux Peter, Paul & Mary in the making) the sell-outs? Or theother way around? Is John Goodman great or coasting on his blustery big-man persona? Does Davis give up orface reality? Did Dylan take folk music to a new level or crush it under his feet on the way to pop success? It'ssomewhat disappointing that this release didn't include the concert film that has been put out separately, but ithas an informative making-of and looks and sounds great.In contrast, I find American Hustle almost embarrassing. David O. Russell's early work was distinctive and fresh.Three Kings is a terrific war film, both universal and telling in its details. But he's hit new peaks of commercialand critical success just as his films become less interesting and original. The Fighter didn't convince. SilverLinings Playbook I actually sort of liked against my better judgment. But American Hustle - inspired by theABSCAM scandal of the 1970s -- is an utter flop. Its aping of Martin Scorsese is so overt and relentless, I wasalmost embarrassed for it and Russell. The constant battering with pop songs (you can only push buttons somany times), the structure, the storytelling gimmicks...on and on it went. The movie felt more like a gradstudent's final project than a feature film by a director seven features into his career. Truly, the actors are not atfault. Indeed, somehow I think they were all good to very good despite a script and direction that kept the filmoverall from being anything more than an exercise in imitation. When you watch it again on BluRay or a year ortwo from now, you're going to feel hustled by this exercise in style.MYSTERIOUS SKIN ($29.99 BluRay; Strand Releasing) THE HIDDEN FORTRESS ($39.95 BluRay combo; Criterion) -- Mysterious Skin is one of the best films of the2000s. This BluRay presents the film in excellent condition and with some key extras demonstrating howimportant this film was to everyone involved. It's a career peak for director Gregg Araki and the best adaptationof Scott Heim's best novel. But above all it helped Joseph Gordon-Levitt rise from his TV sitcom roots to betaken seriously as an actor and set him on the path towards the eclectic and increasingly promising career he'son today. The story is a disturbing tale of two young men linked by...something. One of them is convinced hewas abducted by aliens and that's why there are gaps in his memory. The other (JGL) is a hustler and knows all
12/12/2015DVDs: Inside Llewyn Davis, Anchorman 2 and Hank Williams | Evernote Web
https://www.evernote.com/Home.action#n=d10d659e-4e4f-4dab-9675-260cb008b78c&ses=4&sh=2&sds=5&3/5too well they were molested by the coach of their baseball team. It's evocative, funny, sexy, scary and a genuineindependent film. Don't miss it.Another masterpiece gets a fresh new presentation from Criterion. Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress canbe sold to kids as partial inspiration for Star Wars. (If you need proof, there's a brief interview with George Lucasin th extras.) In truth, of course, it's a rousing adventure tale with some hilarious comic relief and one of themaster's pure entertainments. Toshiro Mifune is a general trying to shepherd a princess, two bumblingassistants and a hoard of treasure through enemy territory and you won't catch your breath for more than twohours. This BluRay/DVD combo set isn't just an excuse for repackaging: the film looks tremendous. Despiterevivals and earlier editions, it's pretty amazing to think this is the best The Hidden Fortress has ever looked,certainly in the home. Another essential from Criterion. Enjoy!MONSTERS: THE COMPLETE SERIES ($99.98 DVD: Entertainment One) ATLANTIS SEASON ONE ($39.98 BluRay; BBC Home Entertainment) -- I wish I was a bigger fan of horror andother offbeat anthology shows. Even when major series fall through the cracks, weird shows that most of ushave never heard of get presented with loving care on DVD. Enter Monsters, the show from the same folksbehind Tales From The Darkside. Launched in 1988, they made 72 episodes and gave work to everyone fromSteve Buscemi and Linda Blair to Adrienne Barbeau and Deborah Harry. And Tempestt Bledsoe. And MeatLoaf! And Tom Noonan! And Gina Gershon! And Jerry Stiller! And Pam Grier...and Chris Noth...and RobMorrow...and Tony Shalhoub. Yes, as the list of guest stars goes on, you realize there's a lot of interesting talentthat had fun dashing off a 45 minute episode of Monsters. This was a surprisingly strong genre in the 1980s,what with this and TFDS and Tales From the Crypt and Friday The 13th TV series and surely some others I'mforgetting. I'm not informed enough to distinguish this from the others (though it seems to have a tad more sci-fielements on tap than most), but it looks good and apparently all the original music is intact. No extras to speakof, but if you're like me, when the show is a favorite that's not nearly as important as getting to see the episodesexactly how they were originally presented.Just like Monsters is from the people behind Tales From The Darkside, Atlantis is from the people behind Merlin.That series was a prequel of sorts to the Arthurian legend. Atlantis, on the other hand, is a bizarre mishmash ofa series, with heroes tossed in from Greek myth or history, the setting of Atlantis adding nothing to theproceedings and a time traveling Jason (Jack Donnelly) who is stranded back in time (or in an alternateuniverse) but never references this fact again and is soon a dashing swordsman and hero. Blessed comic reliefis provided by Mark Addy as a washed-up Hercules. It makes literally no sense in the least -- not the setting, notthe jumble of figures, not much of anything -- but if you miss Xena and Hercules and Merlin, this will do I'llsuppose.ANCHORMAN 2: THE LEGEND CONTINUES ($39.99 BluRay combo; Paramount) THE BOOK THIEF ($39.99 BluRay; Fox) -- Anchorman 2 managed the tricky feat of being promoted to the hiltand yet coming so long after the original that expectations were still somehow muted. It was fine, for fans whoreally wanted a little more Anchorman. But the air of being wholly unnecessary never quite left the project. It's apity more thought wasn't put into the film instead of the cleverly relentless promotional campaign in which theactors were seemingly everywhere and doing everything to bring attention to the film. The final clever touch wasto re-release the film into theaters in the newly cut R version they had prepared for the DVD and tout the factthat it now has 763 new jokes! Genius, but the genius starts and stops there and it's purely of the Barnum sort.Mind you, it worked. The sequel nearly doubled the worldwide box office of the original.The Book Thief has literally nothing in common with Anchorman 2. In fact, it may be the polar opposite. One is acomedy and the other is a drama. One is the sequel to an original comedy. The other is based on a best-sellingyoung adult novel set during World War II when a family is hiding a Jew in their cellar from the Nazis. One was ahit. The other was a flop. One had low expectations. The other -- with the pedigree of its talent and the acclaim
12/12/2015DVDs: Inside Llewyn Davis, Anchorman 2 and Hank Williams | Evernote Web
https://www.evernote.com/Home.action#n=d10d659e-4e4f-4dab-9675-260cb008b78c&ses=4&sh=2&sds=5&4/5for the novel -- was touted as the sort of film that had Oscar written all over it. One can learn lessons fromAnchorman 2, lessons in marketing at least. It's hard to think of any lessons to learn from The Book Thief, whichwas nobly made with the best intentions and for whatever reason fell far short.SAMSON AND DELILAH ($24.99 BluRay; Paramount) -- At least once a decade from the 1920s to the 1950s,director Cecil B. DeMille made a Biblical epic. Spectacle! Pageantry! Skin! (Not too much, but enough.) Oh itwas always nonsense, but Victor Mature and Hedy Lamarr make two of the stiffest leads imaginable in this over-ripe silliness. All the people complaining about the Biblical accuracy of Noah should really be more worriedabout a good movie. You can reach more people with an entertaining tale and still get the Word across. Case inpoint -- Biblical epics like these that add lots of inaccurate fluff but boy do they bring in the people. This BluRayedition looks great, by the way. You can almost forget the dreadful acting.THE DUKES OF SEPTEMBER ($24.98 BluRay; 429 Records) YOU ARE THERE ($19.99 DVD; Shanachie) -- Two offbeat music releases round out this column. The DukesOf September is a super group comprised of Donald Fagen, Michael McDonald and Boz Scaggs. They've beentouring around for years, delivering their hits and some choice covers with impeccable elan. One of theirconcerts was turned into a 90 minute concert for PBS that has proved very popular during pledge drive. It'sfinally come out on BluRay. Unfortunately this is just the 90 minute special seen on PBS and not a longer cutfeaturing an entire concert or featuring extras with them commenting on each other's career. Still, it's an amiablenight with some excellent musicianship.You Are There is a genuine curio. There is no information, but it's a collection of live performances from somecountry legends captured on 35mm in color (mostly) back in the very early 1950s. The setting is clearly a TVseries of some sort, a country variety show set in a barn where performers would take turns performing,punctuated by square dances, comic numbers and a sing-along at the end of each show. I've no idea what showit might or when it aired, but you can see some of these acts returned on more than one occasion (they'rewearing different outfits, for example). This 52 minute disc contains 24 musical numbers and four hoe-downs.The picture and sound quality is variable but it's mostly pretty good, albeit the colors are a tad muted at times. Itbegins with the legendary Bill Monroe, a legend of bluegrass, performing "Close By" with his band. You'll findfive other Monroe performances, two by the Louvin Brothers and assorted others as well, most of whom I'venever heard of at all. I do recognize Grandpa Jones and his bushy mustache but Stringbean was new to me.(His gimmick is to emphasize his height by wearing pants so low down they could teach homeboys a thing ortwo.) There's also Lonzo and Oscar (who offer comic relief along with their numbers) and a few others that moreinformed might know, along with very brief appearances by Kitty Wells and Faron Young in sing-alongs. Thefinal treasure is four very rough, black and white performances by Hank Williams. The picture quality is morevariable here but it's great fun to see him live in person. His gloomy persona looms large so it's a surprise to seehim looking amiable and duded up in flashy sequined suits. "Cold Cold Heart" drags a bit but his intro ishilariously corn-pone and a duet with Anita Carter is intriguing. For diehard fans of classic country music, theserare glimpses of legends (and a lot of others) will hold some interest.Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the founder and CEO of BookFilter, a book lover's best friend. It's a websitethat lets you browse for books online the way you do in a physical bookstore, provides comprehensive info onnew releases every week in every category and offers passionate personal recommendations every step of theway. It's like a fall book preview or holiday gift guide -- but every week in every category. He's also the cohost ofShowbiz Sandbox, a weekly pop culture podcast that reveals the industry take on entertainment news of the dayand features top journalists and opinion makers as guests. It's available for free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz athis website and his daily blog.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 he receives far more titles than he