Category: DVD/BLU-RAY

After scoring a career highlight with 1975's "Nashville," director Robert Altman followed up one of his most famous efforts with a movie that perhaps only his die-hard fans have seen. 1976's "Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson" is far from Altman's most lauded work, but it's one of his better pictures, spotlighting a filmmaker working his gifts with conviction, bringing in major Hollywood heavyweights to help him realize his idiosyncratic vision. In this case, the star is Paul Newman, yellowing his teeth and wearing a cruddy wig to portray a Wild West icon coming to terms with the crumbling foundation of his mythological origins. While "Buffalo Bill and the Indians" teases a tone of revisionist western lecturing, it remains a semi-comedy with outstanding screen detail, electing to trust the audience when it comes to the deconstruction of a western legend by simply providing the uncomfortable particulars of these characters and their abrasive interaction during a time of premiere American storytelling. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There's never been any doubt that Bonnie Hunt is one of the funniest performers around. Her whip-crack wit, inherent geniality, and natural flair for improvisation have always made her a welcome addition to any movie or television show, even when trapped in limited supporting roles. For "Return to Me," Hunt graduates to the director's chair (also co-scripting with gifted performer Don Lake), helming a crushingly sweet and genuine tale of coincidence, magic, and love, but also managing to keep the laugh count high. Cynics aren't allowed past these gates, as Hunt shoots straight from the heart, working diligently to keep the picture as approachable and lived-in as possible, effortlessly translating her skills with timing and authenticity to the screen with this outstanding charmer. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The afterlife is serious business to co-writer/director Wagner de Assis. Adapting the 1944 book by Francisco Candido Xavier, the helmer isn't interested in keeping "Astral City: A Spiritual Journey" merely comforting. He wants the effort to have profound meaning, giving viewers a soulful journey while still paying attention to bright visual effects and matters of the heart. And the Brazilian production works to a certain extent, with the filmmaker whipping up enough dead zone oddity and melodrama to hold attention, though it comes up a little short in its quest to move the world into moral responsibility. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In a post-"Dirty Harry" world, moviegoers were hungry for screen heroes with limited patience for evildoing, fulfilling a shoot-first-ask-questions-later attitude for the 1970s. 1972's "Hickey & Boggs" attempts to butch up with charismatic stars, sending old "I Spy" pals Robert Culp (who also directs) and Bill Cosby into the heart of Los Angeles as two private detectives on a missing persons case who end up in too deep with criminals and a pile of cash. Downplaying frisky banter for a harder edge of investigation, "Hickey & Boggs" surprises with its severity, taking a grim view of crooks and cops, while keeping the interplay between Cosby and Culp regulated to wry exchanges and knowing looks. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

"Downton Abbey: Season 4" was met with enormous hostility by fans and critics. Spending three seasons tracking the emotionally chilled antics of the Crawley Family, emphasizing decorum, hushed rumor, and the occasional dramatic flare-up, the show suddenly downshifted into more manipulative scripting from creator Julian Fellowes, with a subplot featuring sexual assault identified as particularly irksome to those already deep into the English fantasy. "Season 5" sets out to rebuild what was lost, largely eschewing dire events and horrifying violence to restore a bit of the old energy that's been lost to practice and time. In fact, "Season 5" is determined to poke sunshine through the clouds, even opening the first episode with a joke. Gasp! While I wasn't offended by Fellowes's visit to the dark side, it's clear many were, making this new round of tea, gossip, and internalized torment easy to recommend to those feeling burned out after last year. The production doesn't abandon every bad habit, but there's a distinct atmosphere of course-correction helping to make the brand name comfy again. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

As eye-rubbing, brain-bleeding moviemaking of the outrageous goes, "The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears" doesn't really care if the audience is involved in this surreal journey into the internal spaces of murder and madness. It's a defiant, beret-tilting art house offering that's meant to be admired by cineastes, not enjoyed by the average joe, with directors Helene Cattet and Bruno Forzani creating the picture strictly for their own enjoyment, building a hallucinatory cityscape of insanity one fluttering edit and suggestive image at a time. "The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears" is only appreciable as pure cinematic craftsmanship, and it's a gorgeous movie, teeming with inventive compositions and feral lighting. However, as a mystery concerning dead bodies and suspicious men, there's no tractor beam pull to the enigmatic happenings, leaving the effort all about form. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

After his work on 1973's "The Long Goodbye," which took period material and glued it to a modern era, co-writer/director Robert Altman elected to remain in the past with 1974's "Thieves Like Us." An adaptation of Edward Anderson's 1937 novel, the feature is a wholly convincing examination of fledgling bank robbers in the Deep South and the lives they struggle to maintain as law enforcement officials and the media step up their efforts to capture the men. Starring Keith Carradine, John Shuck, and Bert Remsen as the outlaws (Shelly Duvall, Louise Fletcher, and Ann Latham co-star), "Thieves Like Us" retains all the hallmarks of an Altman endeavor, including his commitment to authenticity, slowing the pace of the picture to a crawl as he inspects fragments of humanity found within these notorious monsters. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1985's "The Falcon and the Snowman" is a tale of spying, but approached on an intensely personal level. The subjects are two young men who, for various reasons, decided to carry out a plan to sell American secrets to the Soviet Union during the mid-1970s, entering a dangerous game of espionage without fully understanding the true price of such a crime. Directed by John Schlesinger and scripted by Steven Zaillian, the effort struggles to wrap its arms around the enormity of the situation, preferring to cherry pick offenses as it details character breakdowns in the face of increasing danger and paranoia. It's strongly acted work, spotlighting the quicksand sensation of poor decisions, but it's often difficult to follow the bigger picture, as the feature often abandons supporting characters and urgent motivations to hold close to recognizable elements of the spy game. It's not a failure, but "The Falcon and the Snowman" feels unfinished, with liberal editing or dramatic indifference working to shave down a story that demands a wider scope of consideration, allowing a full understanding of choice. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1980's "Foxes" is a film trapped in the middle of two colliding eras. It's a disco movie facing the sobering reality of a new decade, trying to capture the voice of a generation while it's still in transition. The directorial debut for Adrian Lyne (who, amazingly, hasn't made a picture since 2002's "Unfaithful"), "Foxes" is more appreciable as a time capsule viewing event, depicting days of wayward youth in Los Angeles as they battle vampiric parents and personal demons on the road to adulthood. As a drama, it's not a cohesive effort, with Lyne showing more interest in the perfection of cinematographic haze than characterization, gradually depending on melodrama and crude violence to make sure the audience walks away woozy. Great with surface details but light with significance, the feature doesn't open the senses as Lyne imagines, but there's periodic emotional value on display that makes it worth a look. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

After joining the ranks of the Unlikely Action Heroes of the 1980s with 1985's "American Ninja," actor Michael Dudikoff attempted to fill his filmography with even more violent offerings, keeping on the Cannon Films trail with 1986's "Avenging Force." Teaming up with Sam Firstenberg, the director of "Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo," Dudikoff finds another role that fits his limitations, reaching a creative highlight with this ruthless revenge saga that blends elements from "The Most Dangerous Game" with Chuck Norris-style brawn. Although the effort is weirdly severe with its body count, "Avenging Force" does work as bullet-happy escapism, finding Dudikoff in fine form as the nation's last hope, whipping up some Eastwoodian squints to accompany the force-of-one requirements of the screenplay. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In a world that's seemingly gone mad, it's comforting to know that a few corners of the globe are strictly devoted to the restoration of the spirit. The documentary program "Sacred Journeys with Bruce Feiler" sets out to find these specialized pilgrimages, traveling far on a quest to share how certain cultures and countries carry out extensive tests of self, highlighting organizational efforts, physical endurance, and religious inspiration. The host is Feiler, journalist and author, and a man consumed with the concept of rejuvenation, leading the charge for six episodes of investigation into mysteries of the mind and soul, filling up his passport in a major way. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The kids of America get real dark in 1987's "River's Edge," an exaggerated mash-up of juvenile delinquent movies from the 1950s and teen malaise of the 1980s. Those accustomed to a traditional read of adolescent panic in the face of behavioral extremity are bound to be baffled by director Tim Hunter's strange effort. Favoring quirk and blunt edges to performances, the feature takes some time to get used to, never quite gelling as a statement of moral erosion or a dissection of volatile peer politics. However, it's an interesting film, filled with meditative moments and fragments of psychological insight that help to deepen the core conflict. "River's Edge" certainly isn't something that's watched casually, confronting viewers with a sharp display of developing insanity that demands a unique level of concentration, tasked to get past the picture's era-specific flavorings and isolate its primal scream intent. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Timing is everything in Hollywood, and 1989's "The Package" didn't have much luck during its initial theatrical release. A Cold War thriller issued as the Cold War was winding to a close, the feature was met with a yawn at the box office, perhaps waiting for a time when its premise could be assessed away from headline-fueled expectations. In 2014, immediacy isn't important to appreciate the picture's strengths, with director Andrew Davis (following up his Steven Seagal debut, "Above the Law") overseeing an intelligent take on the action film, managing a politically minded plot while working out the breathless details of car chases and shootouts, making sure the audience is sufficiently lathered up before returning to global concerns. "The Package" has a problem with payoffs, but it's exciting work, held together by stars Gene Hackman and Tommy Lee Jones, who keep a modest manhunt effort alert with their professionalism and commitment to infusing their characters with needed idiosyncrasy. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Instead of simply lampooning the 1973 hit "Westworld," 1978's "Sex World" attempts to use the unforgettable premise to inspire a surprisingly sophisticated adult movie. Director Anthony Spinelli imagines a getaway where anything goes sexually, with guests using this rare non-judgmental opportunity to work out kinks, repair marriages, and delay loneliness. Fantasies reign at the compound, finding the helmer working overtime to create a stylish feature that respects the delicacy of confession, embracing an inviting sense of individual release to go with the hardcore routine. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The picture that helped to transform Hammer Films into an enduring fright factory, 1956's "The Quatermass Xperiment" earns its reputation as a legacy-hoisting hit. Co-scripted and directed by Val Guest, the feature has a very clear idea for chills, working a monster mutation saga that plays up period paranoia and cartoon science, allowing the material to remain procedural while indulging an outlandish premise concerning evil from another world. It's terrific fun, creepy in creative ways, and careful with pace, building a rhythm of reveals that pulls the audience in tightly, wondering how the production is going to visualize the ambitious evolution of ghoulishness they've cooked up. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Critically maligned and badmouthed by one of its stars, 2000's "The Watcher" is not a film that's used to a kind word. To be fair, it's a mess of the movie, with choppy editing, misbegotten stylistics, and a story that covers the basics in cop psychology and procedural cinema. However, scrape away the obvious production problems and there's a perfectly acceptable junk food thriller ready to be enjoyed, one doofy, borderline amateurish scene at a time. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In a long career of strange but absorbing cinema, 1985's "The Emerald Forest" is one of John Boorman's more straightforward efforts. A take on the action/adventure genre, the picture doesn't follow a traditional path of violent excess, electing to provide a more meaningful journey between spasms of violence. The subject presented here is the Amazon rainforest and the indigenous people within, finding the movie passionate in its communication of oncoming ecological and tribal disaster. Of course, there's gunplay and high stakes involved, along with an emotional undercurrent of parental ache, but "The Emerald Forest" is primarily focused on screen immersion, following Boorman's interests in native rituals and interaction, respectful of culture as he tends to more obvious beats of storytelling. The feature doesn't deliver on pulse-pounding suspense, but it offers something different, showing concern for characters and fragile surroundings. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1976's "Drum" is a sequel to "Mandingo," and the feature is thrilled to share that information in the opening moments of the movie. Hitting the viewer with a recap of previous events, overdosing on faces and places before the new film has a chance to breathe, "Drum" is eager to replicate the formula that made its predecessor such a hit. Director Steven Carver is happy to oblige hungry viewers, serving up heaping helpings of sex, violence, and issuing so many racial slurs, it could make a Grand Dragon blush. It's raw stuff, feral and shameless, and the picture largely succeeds as a provocative Blacksploitation offering, flopping when attempting anything more ambitious. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Alistair Bruce is the person the producers of "Downton Abbey" turn to when they require an expert in all things Edwardian England. His nickname is "The Oracle," maintaining tight control of period authenticity and continuity on-set, making him a creative leader in a way, helping out the cast when they lose sight of the details. "The Manners of Downton Abbey" is a program devoted to the work put into onscreen wealth and manners, dissecting the labor required to make labor looks effortless. Hosted by Bruce, "The Manners of Downton Abbey" is best appreciated as a tool for tourists unable to make their way to the location of the series, with the host winding through the house, stopping in major sections to share a behind-the-scenes look at the show and its mission of authenticity. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Emerging during Robert Altman's heyday in the early 1970s, "The Long Goodbye" is perhaps one of his most successfully translated ideas, finding a comfortable home in this loose adaptation of Raymond Chandler's 1953 novel. The helmer dreams up a fluid fantasy world for the character of Philip Marlowe, a fatigued detective most famously played by Humphrey Bogart in 1946's "The Big Sleep," only instead of updating the source material for modern consumption, the screenplay (credited to Leigh Brackett) imagines a world where Marlowe remains in his period headspace, trapped in an updated, post-hippie landscape of crime and self-exploration. The contrast isn't emphasized, but it's enough of a tease to keep "The Long Goodbye" on the move as it attempts to marry Altman's habitual disinterest in plot with Chandler's commitment to the steps of criminal investigation. Playing subtle and slack, with a fantastic lead performance by Elliot Gould, the picture is easily one of Altman's best, allowing his specialized approach a chance to breathe as the particulars of murder and theft are sorted out. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com