New on DVD and Blu-ray Week of August 27-September 2

By Harley Lond - 08/26/13 at 08:32 PM CT

THIS WEEK'S THEATRICAL RELEASES:

The highlight of the week is definitely "The Great Gatsby," Baz Luhrmann's brilliant take on the novel that most everyone (from literary critics to Hollywood scions) said couldn't be made into a film (two abortive attempts preceded this one: 1974's version with Robert Redford and Mia Farrow, and a 1949 version with Alan Ladd and Betty Field). But Luhrmann pulled it off, nailing the tenor of the novel with his brash scenario and direction; at times it's over-the-top, at times sentimental, at times avant-garde; but always hewing to F. Scott Fitzgerald's work. At it's core, it's the story of Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire), a young Midwesterner now living on Long Island, who finds himself fascinated by the mysterious past and lavish lifestyle of his new neighbor, Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio), who holds a torch for Carraway's beautiful cousin, Daisy Buchanan (Carey Mulligan), who lives just across the bay from the two men. Carraway chronicles love, lust, longing, corruption and redemption in 1922 Jazz Age America. The film -- and book -- is about our quest for love and belonging and the American Dream, and the loss of the former and the hollowness of the latter, something that Carraway learns by the end of the story. It's the great American novel and the great American tragedy. Carey Mulligan and Leonardo DiCaptrio living the high life in Baz Luhrmann's lush 2013 drama The Great Gatsby As I said, Luhrmann "got" "Gatsby" and its themes perfectly -- he researched "Gatsby," F. Scott Fitzgerald and the story's cultural era and, though he alters the context just a little (Carraway relates the story in flashbacks from a sanitarium), he has created a masterpiece. His use of 3D and a modern music score (hip-hop and electronic dance music) is a stroke of genius. The acting is top-notch, the sets and costumes miraculous. And the first shot of DiCaprio as Gatsby as his smiling face fills the screen is pure Hollywood and alone worth the price of admission. Co-stars Joel Edgerton, Isla Fisher, Jason Clarke, Elizabeth Debicki and Amitabh Bachchan. Extras include behind-the-scenes featurettes; featurettes on the Jazz Age, fashions of the 1920s, the book, and the film's score; and deleted scenes. From Warner.

Speaking of fashion and high society, take a look at "Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf's," an intriguing look at one of New York's -- and fashion's -- most beloved institutions, Bergdorf Goodman's department store. It's here that fashion has been transformed into modern art -- with concomitant high price tags -- for more than a century; it's a retail outlet that caters to New York (and the world's) moneyed elite and in which any fashion designer worth his or her salt needs to display their wares -- or forfeit their credentials. It's a "world where the rich and famous wield their power and eccentricity, where young and talented designers have their dreams granted and denied, and where money and ambition co-mingle with radical ideas of beauty and provocative style." The documentary gives us a peek inside this world, exploring the history, inner workings and untold stories behind the store's rise from a modest ladies' tailoring shop to a mirror of contemporary culture. Includes footage of Joan Rivers, Rachel Zoe, Candice Bergen, Susan Lucci, Nicole Richie, Tom Ford, Marc Jacobs, Vera Wang, Karl Lagerfeld, Giorgio Armani, Diane von Furstenberg, Michael Kors, Isaac Mizrahi, Christian Louboutin, Domenico Dolce, Lauren Bush, Oscar de la Renta, Manolo Blahnik, Bobbi Brown, Stefano Gabbana, Iris Apfel, Laudomia Pucci, Mary-Kate Olsen, William Fichtner and Ashley Olsen. From Entertainment One.

Also due this week:
"Pain & Gain," a weak comedy-thriller about a trio of bodybuilders in Florida who get caught up in an extortion ring and a kidnapping scheme that goes terribly wrong, starring Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, Anthony Mackie, Tony Shalhoub, Ed Harris and Rob Corddry, from Paramount; and "At Any Price," a by-the-book and uninvolved drama about generational conflict and corruption in a family-run agribusiness, starring Dennis Quaid, Zac Efron, Kim Dickens, Heather Graham, Clancy Brown and Maika Monroe, from Sony.

Unavailable for review: "The Reluctant Fundamentalist."

COLLECTIBLES:


Prime Suspect: The Complete Collection Blu-Ray Cover Oscar-winner Helen Mirren rose to international fame with her ground-breaking role as a female police detective toiling away and dealing with her personal demons in the sexist world of Scotland Yard in the British TV drama "Prime Suspect," which ran as seven series from 1991 to 2006 and garnered more than 20 major international awards, including seven Emmys (three-time winner of "Outstanding Miniseries"), eight BAFTAs, and a Peabody. I've been a big fan of Mirren since her outstanding performance in "O Lucky Man!" and her Emmy-winning role as Detective Jane Tennison solidified my appreciation and respect for her. Acorn Media has seen fit to put out all seven series (encompassing nine mysteries) in a Blu-ray set for the first time as "Prime Suspect: The Complete Collection Blu-ray," selling for $119.99 (with a "street" price of $83.99). Guest stars in the series include Ralph Fiennes, Tom Wilkinson and Jonny Lee Miller. Extras include a 50-minute behind-the-scenes special, featurette, and more.

For cult horror fans the name Larry Cohen conjures up images of horror films "It's Alive" (1974), but the prolific writer-director-producer has been writing for a wide variety of genres, from episodes of TV's "Kraft Theatre" (when he was only 17!!), "The Fugitive," "The Defenders," "Branded," "The Rat Patrol," ""The Invaders" and "Columbo" to such big screen outings as "Maniac Cop," "Phone Booth" and "Cellular." His directorial debut was in 1972 with the little-seen, off-kilter home-invasion thriller "Bone" (in which Yaphet Kotto breaks into the home of the wealthy, seemingly happily married Beverly Hills couple of Andrew Duggan and Joyce Van Patten), followed up by "Hell Up in Harlem" (1973) and "Black Caesar" (1973) and the also little-seen "God Told Me To" (1976), a weird, disjointed tale about a New York detective (Tony LoBianco) who investigates a series of murders committed by random New Yorkers who claim that "God told them to." For me, the peak of Cohen's writing and directing skills is evident in "Q: The Winged Serpent" Q: The Winged Serpent DVD Cover (1982), which Scream Factory/Shout! Factory is bringing to Blu-ray this week. The film, produced by horror-exploitation genius Samuel Z. Arkoff, stars Michael Moriarty, Richard Roundtree, David Carradine, Candy Clark and James Dixon in a wild, almost cheesy saga revolving around Quetzalcoatl, a dragon-like Aztec god that is summoned to modern-day Manhattan by a mysterious cult and which roosts at the top of the Chrysler Building, feasting on window washers, construction workers and rooftop sunbathers. Moriarty -- in a great, method-acting performance -- is a small-time thief who finds the nest of the creature and blackmails the city, and Roundtree and Carradine are New York's finest, hot on the serpentine tail of the bloodthirsty flying serpent. It's a bizarre masterpiece that has influenced generations of filmmkers since. Extras include a new commentary with writer-producer-director Cohen, the theatrical trailer and a teaser trailer.

Criterion this week titillates film lovers with two Teutonic-leaning offerings: the Blu-ray debut of Ernst Lubitsch's wartime comedy "To Be or Not to Be" (1942) and an impressive set of the early work of the great German filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder. "To Be or Not to Be" may not be Lubitsch's best screwball comedy but it is his most daring. The film stars Jack Benny and, in her final screen appearance (before dying in an airplane crash while returning from a World War II Bond tour), To Be or Not to Be Criterion Collection Blu-Ray Cover Carole Lombard, as husband-and-wife thespians in Nazi-occupied Warsaw who become caught up in a dangerous spy plot. Benny is here at his best as the self-absorbed "Shakespearean-actor-wannabe" who impersonates a German spy, and Lombard is forever radiant as his loving but roaming wife. There's a great cast of Lubitsch regulars in supporting roles, a convoluted plot, and all manner of misunderstandings and misidentifications. "To Be or Not to Be" is not nearly as sophisticated as Lubitsch's previous outings, but the director managed to brilliantly balance political satire, romance, slapstick and wartime suspense in a comic high-wire act that's just plain fun. Among the many extras here are "Lubitsch le patron," a 2010 French documentary on Lubitsch's career; "Pinkus's Shoe Palace," a 1916 German silent film directed by and starring Lubitsch; and a booklet featuring an essay by critic Geoffrey O'Brien.

Living in Los Angeles in the 1970s spoiled me: It seemed like every neighborhood theatre was hosting one international film series after another (many of them from Janus Films, which works closely with Criterion). Among the many, many directors I was introduced to was Rainer Werner Fassbinder, an iconoclastic German filmmaker who was a master of social melodramas and a rebellious champion of nonconformity. In 16 short years (he died in 1982, at 37, of a drug overdose) he directed 44 movies and TV shows, creating at least a half-dozen amazing masterpieces, Eclipse Series 39: Early Fassbinder DVD Coverincluding "The Merchant of Four Seasons" (1971), "The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant" (1972), "Ali: Fear Eats the Soul" (1974), "Fox and His Friends" (1975), "Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven" (1975) and "The Marriage of Maria Braun" (1979). Criterion has just released a set of Fassbinder's early films, "Eclipse Series 39: Early Fassbinder." I just got the set, so haven't had time to screen them yet; here's what Criterion has to say: "From the very beginning of his incandescent career, the New German Cinema enfant terrible Rainer Werner Fassbinder refused to play by the rules. His politically charged, experimental first films, made at an astonishingly rapid rate between 1969 and 1971, were influenced by the work of the anti-theatre, an avant-garde stage troupe that he had helped found in Munich. Collected here are five of those fascinating and confrontational works; whether a self-conscious meditation on American crime movies ("Love Is Colder Than Death," 1969), a scathing indictment of xenophobia in contemporary Germany ("Katzelmacher," 1969), or an off-the-wall look at the dysfunctional relationships on film sets ("Beware of a Holy Whore," 1971), each is a startling glimpse into the mind of a twentysomething man who would become one of cinema's most madly prolific artists." The other two titles: the crime drama "Gods of the Plague" (1969) and "The American Soldier" (1970), about the German-born Ricky who returns to Munich from Vietnam and is promptly hired as a contract killer. On DVD.

BUZZIN' THE 'B'S:


In "Stranded" (2012), starring Christian Slater, Brendan Fehr, Amy Matysio and Michael Therriault, an isolated U.S. military moon base is bombarded by a rogue meteor storm harboring alien spores ... and they're replicating. Now a vicious, shape-shifting predatory life form is loose inside the crippled facility, picking off victims one by one. On DVD, Blu-ray from Image Entertainment ... In "A Company Man" (2012 -- South Korea), Hyeong-do wears a suit and tie like any other rank-and-file white collar worker ... except his profession is murder. Seemingly a section chief in the sales division of a metal fabrication company that is actually a front for an organization of hit men, Hyeong-do is regarded as one of the best contract killers in the business ... until he falls in love, quits his job, and is targeted and hunted down by his former employers. A Company Man Blu-Ray Cover An exciting, straight ahead actioner with plenty of stylized violence -- especially when Hyeong-do goes up against his former employers. On DVD, Blu-ray Disc from Well Go USA) ... A group of friends get together for an '80s-themed murder mystery party, but things take a dark turn when someone from their past out for blood hijacks the evening in "Among Friends" (2012), starring Danielle Harris, Christopher Backus, Jennifer Blanc and AJ Bowen. From Lionsgate ... Four upscale Manhattanites run for their lives in the Brooklyn subway tunnels after a botched drug deal in "NYC Underground" (2010), starring Clayne Crawford, Sean Faris, Arielle Kebbel, Rob Mayes, Dania Ramirez, Evan Ross and Matt Servitto. From Lionsgate ... When an unidentified object is shot down by the military and crashes into Seattle's Puget Sound, it sets off a series of strange weather phenomena: earthquakes, tornados and lightning storms that begin to spread, threatening the city and the entire planet in "Seattle Superstorm" (2012), starring Esai Morales, Ona Grauer, Jared Abrahamson and MacKenzie Porter. From Arc Entertainment ... When a bounty hunter kills an outlaw gang member, the gang retaliates, killing the soon-to-be-famous Billy the Kid's mother, and the Kid and the bounty hunter team up to avenge her death in "Billy the Kid" (2013), starring Cody McCarver, Jerry Chesser, Christopher Bowman, Billy Joe Royal and Jason Harbour. From Lionsgate ... A group of friends go deep inside the woods in search of the legendary big foot monster, a "silent killer" eliminating people in the dark in "Fear the Forest" (2009), starring Anna Kendrick, Matthew Bora and Don Evans. From MVD Entertainment ... A group of strangers are forced to take shelter in an outback roadhouse while a flood rages around them, but the danger lurking within is far greater than the threat from outside in "Savages Crossing" (2011 -- Australia), starring John Jarratt, Craig McLachlan and Chris Haywood. From MVD Entertainment.

ON THE INDIE FRONT:


A former tennis pro forced to work at a public recreation center must regain his self-respect and lead his team of oddball amateurs to victory in a prestigious, annual tournament showdown in "2nd Serve" (2012), starring Josh Hopkins, Cameron Monaghan, Kevin Sussman and Guillermo Diaz. From Green Apple Entertainment ... "Online" (2012), starring Morgan Ayers, Kelsey Sanders and Esseri Holmes, is a romantic drama of faith and forgiveness: A happily married man logs into a social networking site and re-connects with his old high school flame; what begins as a harmless "Hello" rapidly escalates into a rekindling of their past romance, and he must face the consequences of his decisions. From Slingshot Pictures ... A deeply troubled boy and an apathetic investment adviser get paired together at a summer camp for foster kids and discover the meaning of unconditional love in "Camp" (2013), starring Miles Elliot and Michael Mattera. From Word Films.

FOR THE FAMILY:


"The Painting" (2011 -- France) is a feast for the eyes as well as the imagination, a wry parable from animator-director Jean-Francois Laguionie that centers on a kingdom in a painting that is divided into three castes: The impeccably painted Alldunns, who reside in a majestic palace; the Halfies, who the Painter has left incomplete; and the untouchable Sketchies, simple charcoal outlines who are banished to the cursed forest. The story follows the adventures of Lola, a rebel Halfir, Ramo, an Alldunn, and Quill, a Sketchie, as they break through the canvas of their painting into the Painter's studio in search of him and the reasons he left the painting unfinished. The abandoned workspace is strewn with paintings, each containing its own animated world, and they explore first one picture and then another, attempting to discover just what the Painter has in mind for all his creations. It's a brilliant concept, not too sophisticated for kids but abstract enough for adults. It's clever, delightful and involving. Why can't American animators create such simple, yet wonderful worlds? In French with English subtitles and an optional English audio track. The Painting DVD Cover On DVD, Blu-ray from GKIDS/Cinedigm ... "Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late ... And More Stories by Mo Willems" (2013) contains three animated adaptations of stories by the New York Times best-selling author: "Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late," "Knuffle Bunny Free: An Unexpected Diversion" and "Edwina, the Dinosaur Who Didn't Know She Was Extinct." Narrators for the stories include Cher Willems, John Scieszka and Mo Willems himself. From Scholastic Storybook Treasures ... "Children Make Terrible Pets ... And More Stories About Family" (2013): In the title animated tale based on Peter Brown's children's book, Lucy, a young bear, meets a charming young boy in the forest and brings him home. Her mother, however, has other ideas and cautions her that, "children make terrible pets." Other stories include "All the World" (by Liz Garton Scanlon, narrated by Joanne Woodward), "Crow Call" (by Lois Lowry, narrated by Julia Fein) and "Elizabeti's Doll" (by Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen, narrated by Lynn Whitfield). From Scholastic Storybook Treasures ... In "Barbie Mariposa and the Fairy Princess" (2013), Mariposa becomes the royal Ambassador of Flutterfield and is sent to bring peace between her fairy land and their rivals, the Crystal Fairies of Shimmervale. On DVD, Blu-ray from Universal ... "Super Buddies" (2013) is the latest in the popular Buddies franchise. Budderball, Mudbud, B-Dawg, Buddha and Rosebud discover mysterious rings that grant them each a unique super power, and the pups unleash their amazing abilities and race to the rescue when a shape-shifting bully from outer space threatens the planet. On DVD, Blu-ray/DVD Combo from Disney ... And, finally, take me out to the Hundred Acre Wood in hi-def: Disney is bringing "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" (1977) to Blu-ray in a Blu-ray/DVD Combo with such extras as the new mini-"Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" short: "Geniuses," as well as the Disney Intermission function: Press "pause" during the movie and younger viewers can play along with the Hundred Acre Wood friends in a variety of engaging activities.

SPECIAL INTEREST:


"The Substance: Albert Hofmann's LSD" (2011 -- Switzerland-Germany) is an informative and entertaining investigation into the history of a drug so potent that mere fractions of a milligram can alter a subject's perception of reality. In 1943, at the Sandoz chemical-pharmaceutical The Substance: Albert Hoffman's LSD DVD Cover laboratories in Basel, Switzerland, chemist Albert Hofmann, in search of a respiratory and circulatory stimulant, first synthesized LSD. Hofmann's discovery quickly left the lab and moved into military experiments, clinicians' offices, and then into the streets. The notoriety and sense of possibility surrounding LSD persist to this day; decades after it first began to appear on international drug blacklists, doctors and researchers have resumed exploring its potential medical and therapeutic applications. From Icarus Films Home Video ... "Missions That Changed the War: Germany's Last Ace" (2011) is a four-part Military Channel documentary that tells the story of three fighter pilots who played decisive roles in the aerial battles over Germany: Lt. Col. Hubert Zemke, Lt. Robert Rankin, and Luftwaffe squadron commander Gunther Rall. Through original footage, expert military analyses, and never-before-seen interviews with the participants, the docu revisits the events of May 12, 1944, which Nazi armaments minister Albert Speer considered the day that Germany lost the war. Two-disc DVD, $49.99 from Athena.

FROM TV TO DVD:


"Call Me Fitz: The Complete Third Season" (2012) is a two-disc set with 13 episodes of the DirecTV series, $19.98 from Entertainment One ... "Elementary -- The First Season " (2012-13)is a six-disc set with 24 episodes, $55.98 from CBS Home Entertainment/Paramount ... "Frank Riva: The Complete Series" (2003-04) is a French mystery series starring the great Alain Delon as Frank Riva, ex-undercover cop called in from retirement after 25 years of exile to investigate the mysterious circumstances surrounding the murder of his brother in a drug sting operation. Riva is forced to pick up the pieces of a life he left behind a quarter of a century ago and, like in most anti-hero cop dramas these days, he plays things by his own rules and follows his own instincts. Delon was never a great actor, but gorgeous, male eye-candy in the 60s and 70s, his Frank Riva: The Complete Series DVD Cover heyday; the years have been kind to him, though his acting hasn't improved. It's a fun series for Francophiles; unfortunately, it's shot digitally and lacks the visual warmth of film that Paris -- and good stories -- deserves. In French with English Subtitles. Three-disc set, $39.95, from MHz Networks ... In "Ghost Hunters International: The Final Season" (2012), the TAPS team travels to new, exotic locales and the most remote places of the world to hunt the paranormal in their third and final season. Investigations include the ominous Castle Rising, where Queen Isabella of France, (whom was known as the She-Wolf) used to live, eerie Mayan Ruins where ancient rituals included violent bloodletting and human sacrifice, and even the mysterious birthplace of Frankenstein in Italy. From Image Entertainment ... "The Inspector Vivaldi Mysteries" (2004, 2009) is an Italian mystery series about Inspector Federico Vivaldi, an old-school cop in a new world -- his son is gay (and also his partner on the force), his wife has left him, and he's got an ambitious colleague nipping at his heels to take over his position -- solving crimes ranging from insurance fraud to murder and human trafficking in the northeastern Italian city of Trieste. In Italian with English subtitles. Four-disc set, $39.95 from MHz Networks ... "Meddling Mom and the Sweeter Side of Life" (2013) is a Hallmark Movie Channel double feature. In "Meddling Mom," starring Sonia Braga, Tony Plana, Mercedes Renard and Ana Ayora, mom does just that, meddling in her oldest daughter's new affair to make sure her boyfriend is Mr. Right. In "The Sweeter Side of Life," a pampered Manhattan housewife has to return to her roots to help her father in his struggling bakery after she's dumped by her wealthy husband. Stars Kathryn Morris. From Gaiam Vivendi Entertainment ... "Sons of Anarchy Season Five " (2012) contains 13 extended episodes; four-disc DVD, $59.98; three-disc Blu-ray, $69.99; from Fox ... "Tales of the City: 20th Anniversary Edition" (1993) is a two-disc set that includes all six episodes of the Peabody Award-winning PBS miniseries based on the ground breaking novel by Armistead Maupin that follows a colorful cast of characters living at 28 Barbary Lane in anything-goes 1970s San Francisco. Stars Laura Linney, Olympia Dukakis, Billy Campbell, Paul Gross, Thomas Gibson, Parker Posey, Marcus D'Amico, Donald Moffat, Chloe Webb, Barbara Garrick. $49.99 from Acorn Media ... "The Walking Dead: The Complete Third Season" (2012-13) is a five-disc set with all 16 episode; DVD $69.98; Blu-ray, $79.99. The Blu-ray set also will be available in a limited edition "zombie head tank" package (water not included!) specially created once again by McFarlane Toys (to complement last year's Season 2 limited edition "zombie head" packaging; $149.99. From Anchor Bay).

Check out other new August 27-September 2 DVD releases at OnVideo.

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