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The talented cast of A-listers - including Anthony Hopkins, Natalie Portman, Kat Dennings and Stellan Skarsgard - proves you can take a half-baked script and make it tasteful with the right talent, even when most of the words feel like they fell off ...
Thor: Three and a half stars out of five - Chris Hemsworth stars as the Norse god Thor in this Kenneth Branagh action movie that finds the perfect balance between popcorn distraction and dramatic integrity. The talented cast of A-listers - including Anthony Hopkins, Natalie Portman, Kat Dennings and Stellan Skarsgard - proves you can take a half-baked script and make it tasteful with the right talent, even when most of the words feel like they fell off the comic-book page. The shtik is actually half the fun of the voyage, as Hemsworth plays a hunky bimbo with a hammer, and the remaining cast, including Colm Feore, find dramatic ways of keeping him away from his hardware. Entertaining, funny, smart, and visually accomplished, Thor was probably the best action hero of the summer. Special features include (check for different editions) featurettes such as From Asgard to Earth, Our Fearless Leader, Music of the Gods, Creating Laufey, A Conversation, additional footage, interview with Stan Lee from the set, and more.
Citizen Kane Collector's Edition: Five stars out of five - Oh yes. It's the classic of classics. Orson Welles' history-making movie about a newspaper baron who loses his way, forgets about truth and friends, and winds up on the rocks of broken romance, remains a story for the ages because, well, some people just never learn. We always want more, and that's why Kane's quest for godlike status remains as compelling now as it was when it was released exactly 60 years ago this month (film debuted Sept. 5, 1941). There are so many firsts in Kane, from showing the ceiling of a set to low camera angles. Welles and his crew, which included Herman Mankiewicz and cinematographer Gregg Toland - not to mention editor Robert Wise (The Sound of Music) - took their collective craft to new levels. This new edition on Blu-ray recognizes the artistry with a fully restored digital print in 4K resolution, documentary The Battle Over Citizen Kane, feature-length commentaries from Robert Ebert and Peter Bogdanovich, stills gallery, production memos and correspondence, booklet, repro lobby cards, and more.
Star Wars Saga (Blu-ray): Four stars out of five - Take a deep breath - inside a paper bag - and you will not only sound like Darth Vader, you'll also prevent a bad case of hyperventilation in the lofty beanbag chair of geekdom because this is it: the full Blu-ray release of the entire Star Wars Saga. There are three different ways to acquire this chunk of cinematic history: a nine-disc set with every film, or two three-disc sets that focus on each trilogy, the original or the prequel. More than 30 hours of extra bonus features are waiting for your eyeballs, including audio commentary with George Lucas, Rick McCallum, Ben Burtt, Carrie Fisher and Dennis Muren, archival interviews with cast and crew, deleted scenes, extended and alternative scenes, matte paintings and concept art, a tour of Lucasfilm archives, costume spotlight, a new conversation with the masters: George Lucas, Lawrence Kasdan and John Williams look back, Star Wars Spoofs!, The Making of Star Wars (the 1977 documentary), The Empire Strikes Back SPFX, classic creatures, the anatomy of dewback, Star Wards Tech, Dolby Digital 6.1, and more.
Incendies: Four stars out of five - Denis Villeneuve's adaptation of Wajdi Mouawad's stage play unfolding against the backdrop of Lebanon's civil war not only deals with the immutable human condition with a nod to Greek tragedy; it pulls the threads of then and now together with a skilled, compassionate touch. Framed somewhat like a mystery in the opening scenes, we're introduced to twins (Maxim Gaudette and Melissa Desormeaux-Poulin) who've just lost their mother (Lubna Azabal). Now living in Canada, the twins are assigned the symbolic task of retracing their mother's steps to the Middle East in order to discover the truth of their own identity. Suddenly, the sins of the past are thrust up against the flawed face of today, where the impact of the initial fall is cushioned by the most unexpected consequences. Incendies is a tragedy on a monolithic scale, but it finds beauty - even at the ugliest moments - by keeping redemption at the centre of the frame, from disquieting start to heartbreaking finish. Special features include documentary, Remembering the Ashes, Dolby Digital, and more.
Meek's Cutoff: Four stars out of five - There's a great big gap in the middle of the American experience, and it's the decidedly female take on the notion of ``nation-building.'' As North America was settled, colonized, and eventually conquered by European ideology, history was handed down from man to man, ultimately forming what we now recognize as the ``American world view'' - a short-form way of affirming the importance of domination and control over the chaos of the natural order. Up to now, the female side of this equation has been relegated to hidden meanings in needlepoint samplers, quilt squares and the odd surviving journal or diary. Filmmaker Kelly Reichardt and screenwriter Jon Raymond do a good job of darning the gaping hole in the fabric of American history in Meek's Cutoff, a story based on the real exploits of Stephen Meek (Bruce Greenwood), a fast-talking guide and trapper hired to lead a wagon train of settlers across the Cascade Mountains - only to get lost in the Oregon desert. Michelle Williams plays a young wife contemplating death by male misadventure, with endless pathos and an almost saintly resignation in this gendered piece of revisionism. Special features include the making of Meek's Cutoff and trailer.
Potiche: Three and a half stars out of five - Catherine Deneuve plays a trophy wife in this smart, colourful and frequently very funny film from Francois Ozon. The Gallic icon of sexuality plays Suzanne Pujol, a woman who abdicated her power when her husband took over the family business, but takes it back when human values get plowed under by the profit motive. A comedy with endless edges, thanks to Ozon's ability to put the female psyche under the microscope, Potiche is more than a standard French farce; it's a brave attempt to smash the glass case that continues to keep so many women prisoner. Gerard Depardieu co-stars as the lefty mayor in this remake of a stage play. Special features include widescreen, subtitles and more.
Le quattro volte: Three stars out of five - Constructed as more of a visual poem than any piece of formal genre, Michelangelo Frammartino's Le quattro volte is more than a throwback to a different era of cinema: It's a time warp to a completely different era of civilization. Expect to move back several centuries as we enter the life of a simple goat herder living in the sun-cooked mountains of Calabria. Every day, he rises, coughs, drinks his ``medicine'' (actually, the dirt from the church floor), puts on his woolly clothes and leads his flock to pasture. Anyone looking for an action movie, drama or scripted comedy should clearly look elsewhere, but for those seeking a transcendent escape from the paved reality of 21st-century life, Le quattro volte offers the mental comfort of an extended vacation - without a single book to read. Special features include trailer and stills gallery.
L'amour fou: Three and a half stars out of five - There is so much sadness sitting at the heart of L'amour fou, it could have been the most depressing movie of the year. And yet, in this penetrating and poignant portrait of Yves Saint Laurent and his longtime lover Pierre Berge, we get so much insight into unhappiness, the film almost serves to liberate the spirit by giving us the myriad dimensions of mourning. The touchstone is feeling, and particularly, YSL's feelings of loneliness and creative alienation: that there should be something more that never materializes, leaving him unrequited in every element of life. Berge was clearly the perfect partner, because he not only understood the grief and frustration of existential angst; he had the patience to watch it take its toll on the man he loved. Set against the backdrop of the YSL estate sale in the wake of his death, this is more than a portrait of people. It's a loving image of the beautiful things they collected together, and releasing them back into the world. Special features include Monsieur Saint Laurent, Homage to Mondrian, The Tuxedo Suit, vignettes on the art collection, and more.
Me and Orson Welles: Three and a half stars out of five - Big egos make for big entertainment, regardless of whether we love or hate the person behind the haughtiness. That said, Orson Welles was one of the biggest egos of the 20th century, which immediately puts Richard Linklater's Me and Orson Welles in a winning dramatic position. Based on the novel by Robert Kaplow, this film attempts to reconstruct a very specific and rather historic moment in time, as Welles prepared his 1937 Mercury Theatre version of Julius Caesar - a production considered so successful and revolutionary, it cemented Welles' reputation as the Great White Way's wizard. It's a sexy time in American history, and one Zac Efron capitalizes on, alongside Christian McKay and Claire Danes, as he plays a fictional protege to the man who made Kane. Special features include trailers and more.
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