New to View: Nov. 30
By Bob Bloom
The following titles are being released on Tuesday, Nov. 30, unless otherwise noted:
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (Blu-ray + digital)
Details: 2021, Marvel Studios-Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
Rated: PG-13, sequences of action and violence, language
The lowdown: Marvel’s newest superhero saga is a mixture of Asian martial arts, mayhem and magic. And though it does not succeed all the time, it remains a noteworthy addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The film’s main problem is its tone: it vacillates between wanting to be a Chinese blockbuster and what is expected of a Marvel superhero movie.
The movie, directed by Destin Daniel Cretton (“Short Term 12,” “Just Mercy”), with a script by Cretton, Dave Callahan and Andrew Lanham, is vague on many plot points.
However, the martial arts action, choreographed by the late Brad Allan, compensates for some of the movie’s shortcomings.
The finale is a CGI extravaganza that is more distracting than impressive, involving two battling dragons — after all, the movie is mostly set in China — who swoop and soar with computerized abandon.
The finale paves the way for more movies featuring a few of the main characters, as well as revisiting the Ten Rings.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.39:1 widescreen picture; English 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, 2.0 descriptive audio and French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby digital; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus attractions include a gag reel, deleted scenes, a look at the father-son relationship that is the backbone of the movie, a commentary track and a behind-the-scenes featurette on the making of the movie.
Freud (Blu-ray)
Details: 1962, Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: John Huston directs and Montgomery Clift stars in this biopic about the father of psychoanalytical psychiatry as he develops his idea that neurosis is a product of sexual repression.
The movie is rather staid, and Clift seems too introverted for the role of Freud. He lacks the dynamism needed to propel the character.
Still, the movie has a solid supporting cast, including Susannah York as a patient haunted by recurring dreams, David McCallum as a patient with an Oedipus complex, Susan Kohner as Freud’s wife and the onetime blacklisted Larry Parks in his final film appearance as fellow doctor Joseph Breuer.
The movie covers the few years in Freud’s life in which he develops his theories and begins utilizing them in his practice.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: A “Trailer From Hell” episode and a commentary track by film historian Tim Lucas are the bonus components.
Slow Dancing in the Big City (Blu-ray)
Details: 1978, Scorpion Releasing-Kino Lorber
Rated: PG
The lowdown: This urban romance feature stars Paul Sorvino as a popular “New York Daily News” columnist who falls in love with his neighbor, Sarah (Anne Ditchburn), a young ballerina who had just discovered that she has been stricken with a debilitating condition that will eventually force her to quit dancing.
The movie is a bit corny and will require tissues for those who easily cry at such stories.
The supporting cast includes Nicolas Coster. The movie, with a score by Bill Conti, was directed by John G. Avildsen.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.78:1 widescreen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include interviews with Coster and Conti.
To Hell and Back (Blu-ray)
Details: 1955, Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Audie Murphy was one of the most decorated American combat soldiers of World War II. At 19, he was awarded the Medal of Honor for valor.
After the war, Murphy turned to acting, starring as himself in this adaptation of his 1949 memoirs.
The movie follows Murphy through his various European campaigns as he continually demonstrates his courage.
As much as he fought to keep his comrades safe, many of the men alongside him were killed in action.
The movie costars Charles Drake, Jack Kelly, David Janssen, Marshall Thompson, Brett Halsey and Denver Pyle.
The five reviews of the movie posted at Rotten Tomatoes all were positive.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.35:1 widescreen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: A commentary track with filmmaker-historian Steve Mitchell and “Combat Films: American Realism” author Steven Jay Rubin is the main extra.
Our Ladies (Blu-ray)
Release date: Nov. 16
Details: 2019, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Rated: R, sexual content, language, nudity, teen drinking, drug use
The lowdown: A coming-of-age story, set in 1990s Scotland, about a group of Catholic school girls who get a chance to travel to Edinburgh for a choir competition.
Once in the big city, though, the girls put singing aside and focus more on drinking, partying and hooking up with boys than winning an competition.
The movie, though appealing, is dated and a bit cliched, with some old-fashioned conceptions about teenage sexuality.
Still, the movie, which earned a 93 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes, offers an expressive portrait of female friendship.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.39:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH, English and French subtitles.
Jet Pilot (Blu-ray)
Details: 1957, Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: This movie was shot during Howard Hughes’ tenure as head of RKO Pictures.
Filming began in 1949, was finished in 1953 and, because of Hughes’ continual tinkering with the movie, was not released until 1957 — by which time Hughes was no longer in control of RKO.
By the time it was released, the various aircraft showcased in the movie were in mothballs and/or obsolete.
This is a Cold War drama in which John Wayne stars as an Air Force colonel sent to obtain top-secret information from a Russian pilot, played by Janet Leigh, who has seemingly defected.
The two fall in love and eventually marry, so Leigh cannot be sent back to Russia. However, Wayne learns that his bride is actually a Soviet spy.
Wayne’s character steals an aircraft and he and his wife escape to the Soviet Union, with him posing as a defector.
Everything works out in the end with the couple living happily ever after.
The direction is credited to the legendary Josef on Sternberg — most famously known for his collaborations with Marlene Dietrich at Paramount Pictures in the early 1930s.
Unfortunately, this is not one of von Sternberg’s better efforts.
Today, the movie is dated and somewhat corny, worth viewing mostly for the performances of Wayne and Leigh.
The Blu-ray offers the movie in widescreen and full-screen formats.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture and 1.37:1 full-screen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English SDH subtitles.
El Hombre Búfalo (DVD)
Details: 2020, IndiePix Films
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A story, inspired by true events, about the dangers of investigative journalism in Mexico.
The movie follows Eric, a young journalist in Mexico City who stops writing after he begins receiving death threats.
Eric soon becomes obsessed with an elderly homeless man who has dementia and a mythical being who takes care of abandoned children and decides to write again — even if it cost him his life.
At times the movie is surreal and the narrative is disruptive, which underscores the disenchantment of the state of journalism in our neighbor to the south.
Since 2000, more than 100 journalists have been killed in Mexico, ranking it as the most dangerous country without war in which to practice journalism.
Technical aspects: 16:9 widescreen picture; Spanish 5.1 Dolby digital; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Five deleted scenes and a commentary track comprise the bonus materials.
Other titles being released on Tuesday, unless otherwise indicated:
NeedtoBreathe: Into the Mystery (DVD) (Greenwich Entertainment-Kino Lorber)
Saint Maud (Blu-ray + digital & DVD) (Lionsgate Home Entertainment)
Back to Sölöz (IndiePix Films, Nov. 23)
DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, STREAMING or VOD
The Last Duel (Fox Home Entertainment-Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution)
The Unkind (Wild Eye Releasing)
Candified: Home for the Holidays (Hulu, Dec. 1)
Repossession (Gravitas Ventures, Dec. 1)
Single All the Way (www.netflix.com/SingleAllTheWay) (Netflix, Dec. 2)
Castle Falls (Shout! Studios, Dec. 3)
Death of a Telemarketer (Vertical Entertainment, Dec. 3)
Dune (Warner Home Entertainment, Dec. 3)
Mixtape (www.netflix.com/Mixtape) (Netflix, Dec. 3)
Pen15 (Hulu, Dec. 3)
Red Pill (Midnight Releasing, Dec. 3)
Red Stone (Cinedigm, Dec. 3)
I am a founding member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. I review movies, 4K UHD, Blu-rays and DVDs for ReelBob (ReelBob.com), The Film Yap and other print and online publications. I can be reached by email at bobbloomjc@gmail.com. You also can follow me on Twitter @ReelBobBloom and on Facebook at ReelBob or the Indiana Film Journalists Association. My movie reviews also can be found at Rotten Tomatoes: www.rottentomatoes.com.